"Unbroken": review, reviews, bloopers

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In December 2014, the film "Unbroken" was released on the big screens. The review of this picture from the protagonist of this whole drama - Louis Zamperini - remained unknown to the public: Louis died six months before the premiere. Nevertheless, heated debates broke out over the picture among film critics and viewers. What is Unbroken about and who directed it?

The creators of the picture

The biography of Louis Zamperini, an athlete who experienced all the disasters of the Second World War, was widely discussed in the USA back in the 50s. In the wake of public interest, the Universal Studios film company acquired the film rights to this story exactly at the end of the 50s. It was then planned to entrust the role of Louis to the famous Hollywood actor Tony Curtis (“Only Girls in Jazz”), but the matter stalled.

In 2010, a book by Laura Hillenbrand dedicated to the biography of Zamperini was published. When this edition became a bestseller, the "bosses" of the Universal film company againstepped up and commissioned the Coen Brothers (Bridge of Spies) to write the screenplay for Unbroken.

Francis Lawrence (Constantine: Lord of Darkness) was supposed to be in the director's chair, but he refused. So Angelina Jolie became the director of the film "Unbroken".

A review received on the picture immediately after its premiere from the periodical publisher Variety, says that Jolie in her work showed "impeccable skill" and "sober restraint." Other critics complain that she turned a brilliant story into just a good, mundane story. What is this “narrative” about?

"Unbroken": review, short story

The painting "Unbroken" is biographical and displays the events of a certain period in the life of American athlete Louis Zamperini.

The story begins with Louis arriving in Berlin to take part in the Olympics. It was 1935, Nazism was already rampant in Germany.

Louis did not manage to earn a single title in the games, but Hitler himself noticed him, who even expressed a desire to talk with the athlete in his box. After that, Zamperini departed back to the States and began preparations for the next Olympic Games, but the Second World War broke out.

Soon Louis was sent to the front. He flew military aircraft. Once the crew of Zamperini crashed in the waters of the Pacific Ocean. For 47 days, the pilots hung out at sea until they were washed up on the Japanese islands. So Zamperini was captured by the Japanese.

Bcaptivity, life was far from a fairy tale: beatings, overwork and bullying. But the athlete nevertheless returned home when the allied forces won.

The plot seems to be very exciting. But a critic from The Hollywood Reporter notes that Jolie dragged out the segment where Zamperini is in captivity too long: for a long time nothing happens on the screen except bullying, which makes the viewer yawn, despite all the horrors shown on the screen.

Jack O'Connell as Zamperini

The role of Louie was originally planned for Dane de Haan. This is a young American actor who has not yet marked the main roles. But Angelina defended the candidacy of Briton Jack O'Connell. He started, like many other actors, with serial projects: in 2005 he appeared in a soap opera called "Doctors", and a little later he managed to be filmed in four episodes of the detective story "Purely English Murder".

In 2007, Jack also did not particularly distinguish himself: he was offered only episodic roles in films. But soon the actor finally got into a big movie: he appeared in the horror movie Paradise Lake and the action movie Harry Brown.

The role of the bad guy went to Jack in the youth series "Skins". And in 2014, for O’Connell, the “star” hour came, because any actor could have dreamed of the role of Zamperini. For his work in the film "Unbroken" Jack received a BAFTA award.

Other role players

What else is being said about the cast of the Unbroken project? Film review from the publisherForbes describes the situation in the best possible way. A certain Scott Mendelsohn in his review notes that with the participation of such little-known actors, Jolie managed to make a good picture. But, unfortunately, Angelina's film is not good either.

The acting in this tape cannot be called talented or emotional. Rather, many performers look neutral on screen, sometimes even indecisively. Who can be seen in the frame of "Unbroken"?

As already mentioned, the main role went to the British Jack O'Connell, and singer Miyavi acted as his Japanese tormentor. Zamperini's close friend and colleague was played by Domhnall Gleason ("Boyfriend from the Future"), and Garett Hedlund, who starred in the legendary "Troy", this time got the image of John Fitzgerald. Jai Courtney ("Terminator: Genisys") was cast as Hugh Cappernell, Finn Wittrock ("Noah") played Francis McNamara, and Alex Russell appeared on the screens as Louis Zamperini's brother.

Premier

Unbroken, which was reviewed at the end of December 2014, premiered in Australia in November. In December, residents of Canada, USA, Spain and Great Britain were able to watch the tape.

In early 2015, Unbroken was presented to film lovers in Western and Eastern Europe. The Japanese will see the picture later than everyone else - only in February 2016. But surely the curious have already quenched their interest by reading the tape on the Internet.

Box Office

The film paid off quite wellits value at the box office: at a cost of $65 million, $163 million was earned. This is not the final figure as the painting will be shown in early 2016 in several more countries.

"Unbroken" (Unbroken): review, reviews, bloopers

Negative reviews from film critics are often associated with many mistakes made in the film. For example, pilots wear uniforms instead of flight suits, which looks very strange. And the girls appear in the frame in dresses, the style of which will be developed only ten years after the events described. And this is not a complete list of bloopers found in the film "Unbroken".

Reviews from critics of a positive nature make up slightly more than half of all other reviews. We can say that the picture provoked numerous controversies. On the one hand, Jolie took into development an original story that cannot leave the viewer indifferent. On the other hand, all critics, to one degree or another, agree with the statement that the actress should not have gone into directing: much more could have been “squeezed” out of this plot, and Jolie limited herself to a meager description of events, without giving the whole story an interesting form.

Viewer Reviews

Regular viewers were less critical of the film "Unbroken": reviews, reviews coming from them, provided the tape with a rating of 7.20 on the IMDb website.

Positive feedback came primarily from fans of the actress, who admire her beauty and respect Jolie's humanitarian work. Admiring fans reacted favorably to Angelina's project called "Unbroken" in advance. The review from this category of viewers boiled down to the following: the story touched to the core, Louis Zamperini is an outstanding personality. The audience sincerely admires the strength of mind and endurance of the protagonist, but the circumstances under which this strength is revealed were written in the script. But where is the merit of Angelina?

Many agree that the story of Louis Zamperini deserves a better adaptation. All the events described in the film could have been given a more interesting and original visual form. Then two hours of the picture would not have seemed like an eternity, and Angelina Jolie herself would finally have ceased to be reproached for her lack of directorial talent.