Unbroken (2014), PG-13, ★★1/2

Jack O'Connell at attention. 

How can a movie endure a man who has lived the highest value of success and the lowest value of scum and pain? It is fascinating to witness a man who never complains or never gives up despite being beat up in combat or losing in a race. The movie is inspirational in that degree on how far we go to achieve the highest goal in our lives. But, it is also risk-taking as to how far we will go to achieve it if surrounded by high mortality rates. The movie follows one man on a journey that sets him on a raft for 47 days before being captured by the Japanese and that is when his spiritual mission truly begins.

Louie Zamperini (Jack O'Connell) is a man who overcomes odds but desperately wants to achieve it no matter the consequences or the loss of his physical strength. Earlier in the film, we witness a young Louie being trained for the high school track team and sets a record. He goes to the Olympics in 1936 and ends up in last place but it does not belittle him because he sets a new American track record.

When they show the film in that retrospect in what he can do, Louie is a WWII bombardier and is engaged in combat with the Japanese with the aid of Phil (Domhnall Gleeson), the pilot. Even though the plane is being shot down, it successfully lands. The crew who have been on the shot-down plane have been transferred to Hawaii. However, on the way, mechanical difficulties cause the plane to go down into the ocean of Oahu, killing 8 of 11 men. The only ones who survive are Louie, Phil and a man named Mac (Finn Witrock). They make their way onto the lifeboats with limited rations for 47 days.

After nearly 50 days, Mac dies and Phil and Louie see a boat discovering them, however, the bad news is that is a Japanese boat and planes hovering over them and they are both taken to a PoW camp. They are both met by Mutsushiro Watanabe (Miyavi), a soldier nicknamed "The Bird", because the prisoners cannot call him his real name. He is sadistic and cruel and beats Louie a lot and will a huge test for Louie if he ever gets out of there alive.

At the mark, ready, set, go.

There is a lot to like about this movie, however, it is a very singular film as to what he has to go through to get back home and why he is called "Unbroken." Zamperini has to suffer the inflicting pain repeatedly he does not get to live up to the Bird's expectations. Nevertheless, it is an inspiring film to watch but it is a conventional film and it disappointed me a little bit because there is not much suspense and it drags with huge chapters of his journey. The first half is almost the entire set-up and the second-half is basically the story. Louis Zamperini was a brave man to not complain or behave badly in front of the Japanese soldiers. But, it is structured so safely that it did not entertain or move me as much.

Jack O'Connell is terrific as the lead as he works so hard on his physicality and mental awareness. He is vital, intensely focused and captivating as a vulnerable man who cares about being back home to America but has to go through survival and resiliency. Miyavi is eerily menacing and does not chew up the scenery as much and Gleeson is actually very good as Louis' companion at sea.

Director Angelina Jolie does not disservice the man nor Louis Zamperini's story, however, she should have cut some chunks of the camp scenes and added a little more emotion and a few scenes of characters interacting, especially in a scene where someone urges Louis to go on the radio to tell his family that he is alive. Also, to fill out the chunks of the camp scenes deleted, there are some sentences in the end credits of when Louis remains religious towards God and forgives every Japanese member who tortured him. That is the most interesting part of his story. I do not understand why Jolie did not show that towards the end of the film and it could have been a much better climax and ending than the familiar and conventional scenes in the movie. I did like the performances a lot and I liked the first half a lot but overall, it is a familiar, one-dimensional movie that could have been a lot better and a lot more classical. I would not want to say run off to the theaters, but I would wait for it to be on DVD on a Redox for rental or on cable to watch.

**1/2