Reviews for this film from our members:
- Marco Albanese @ Stanze di Cinema [Italian]
- Excerpt: La Jolie si limita a svolgere il suo compitino con una timidezza, lontana dalle sue corde e divide con un certo manicheismo stucchevole buoni e cattivi, senza alcuna sfumatura. Il calibro dei collaboratori di cui si è circondata consentono al film di non affondare. Ma non c’è molto altro da ricordare.
- Dragan Antulov @ FAK [Croatian]
- José Arce @ LaButaca.net [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Rodeada de un estupendo equipo técnico y humano, Angelina Jolie se lanza a una gran producción de estudio al estilo clásico, limpia, universal, delicada pese a la dureza de lo que muestra. Bien.
- Jason Bailey @ Flavorwire
- Excerpt: Considering how many distinctive, unique voices are at work here, it’s a little stunning that the picture is so generic, so vanilla, so utterly lacking in personality.
- Nicholas Bell @ Ioncinema
- Excerpt: a very dry, straightforward film about a man whose experiences as a captive of the Japanese army were made even worse due to his athletic prestige.
- William Bibbiani @ CraveOnline
- Excerpt: The script relies so much on Zamperini’s determination that it never capitalizes on the many dramatic uncertainties that might have turned his story into a timeless nail-biting classic, as opposed to a solemn, respectful salute that lasts more than two hours.
- Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy
- Kevin Carr @ 7M Pictures
- Excerpt: I have the utmost respect for the subject matter. However, Jolie manages to take a remarkable story and turn it into a pretty unremarkable film.
- [New – 5/29/15] | Samuel Castro @ Ochoymedio.info [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Acompañada de un gran equipo de trabajo, Angelina Jolie no alcanza a estar a la altura de la vida de Louis Zamperini.
- Bill Clark @ From The Balcony
- Excerpt: Zamperini’s bravery and will to live gets pounded into cinematic submission in Unbroken, and it’s more relief than inspiration when it finally ends.
- Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Jolie and her star Jack O’Connell, so vibrant in this year’s “Starred Up,” never get us into Louis’s head, instead offering up repeated motivational catch phrases.
- Edwin Davies @ A Mighty Fine Blog
- Excerpt: Jolie and her collaborators clearly have a lot of respect for the story they are telling, but their reverence prevents the film from having much passion, or from cohering into anything like a decent narrative. Instead, it feels like a series of well-shot scenes that happen to follow each other.
- Carlos del Río @ El rincón de Carlos del Río [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Un empaque sobresaliente, pero una narración mediocre.
- Jim Dixon @ Examiner.com
- Excerpt: Jolie clearly takes her material seriously and has made a tasteful, restrained movie that’s almost classy to a fault. Jolie clearly takes her material seriously and has made a tasteful, restrained movie that’s almost classy to a fault.
- Mark Dujsik @ Mark Reviews Movies
- Excerpt: The screenplay … is not interested in presenting Zamperini as a person, but it is clearly and deferentially impressed with its hero as an ideal.
- James Jay Edwards @ FilmFracture
- Excerpt: Unbroken’ Has All Of The Ingredients Of A Big Hit, But Still Falls Short
- Candice Frederick @ Reel Talk Online
- Kimberly Gadette @ doddle
- Excerpt: Just in time for the holidays, ‘Unbroken’ is akin to ‘The 12 Days of Xmas’ … unbearably repetitive.
- Sarah Gopaul @ Digital Journal
- Excerpt: ‘Unbroken’ is based on the inspiring memoirs of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic long-distance athlete who became a prisoner of war during WWII.
- Susan Granger @ www.susangranger.com
- Excerpt: Inspiring and triumphant survival story, celebrating the resilient power of the human spirit.
- Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: There’s much to recommend here, but at over two hours the production taxes the viewer’s patience after a while. Let’s just say, Unbroken is worth watching once and then never again.
- MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: Jack O’Connell is the most exciting young actor to break out in years, and he makes this overly familiar film worth your time… if only just.
- Charlie Juhl @ Citizen Charlie
- Excerpt: Aiming for inspirational memoir yet achieving more stomach-churning shudders than anything, Unbroken is a tough watch and tougher still to walk out with any other feelings than “Ouch.”
- Jeremy Kibler @ The Artful Critic
- Excerpt: Unbroken aims to be a well-meaning “triumph of the human spirit,” a film that should clearly matter. It’s well-made and solidly acted, so why isn’t it extraordinary?
- Kristin Dreyer Kramer @ NightsAndWeekends.com
- Brent McKnight @ The Last Thing I See
- Excerpt: Unbroken’ manages to take one of the most incredible stories you’ve ever heard and turn it into a monotonous slog.
- Simon Miraudo @ Quickflix
- Darren Mooney @ the m0vie blog
- Excerpt: Gimme a break.
- Pat Mullen @ Cinemablographer
- Excerpt: [I]t feels unfair to fault the soft edges of Unbroken since Jolie’s direction favours the light of Zamperini’s tale rather than the darkness from which it emerges.
- Stefan Pape @ HeyUGuys
- Jason Pirodsky @ Expats.cz
- Excerpt: A gorgeously-photographed (by Roger Deakins), vividly-realized, authentic-feeling adaptation that nevertheless struggles to come to life in dramatic terms.
- Nuno Reis @ Antestreia [Portuguese]
- Excerpt: O filme é incrível a mostrar tudo, faltando apenas uma melhor mistura das diferentes facetas. Foi como ver três bons filmes com a mesma personagem quando na verdade são a mesma história, dois dos acontecimentos foram consecutivos.
- Jerry Roberts @ Armchair Cinema
- Excerpt: Director Angelina Jolie is clearly trying to follow in the footsteps of Kathryn Bigelow by creating an emotional war drama, but, Bigelow is simply a better storyteller. Unbroken is a well-made film in which the major flaw is that it keeps you at arm’s length from its subject.
- Diego Salgado @ Cine para Leer [Spanish]
- Tom Santilli @ Examiner.com
- Excerpt: Baseball, Apple Pie and Louis Zamperini. It doesn’t get more American than that.
- Amir Siregar @ Amir at the Movies [Indonesian]
- Frank Swietek @ One Guys Opinion
- Excerpt: Slow-moving, episodic and frankly over-refined.
- David Upton @ So So Gay
- Excerpt: Jolie’s approach might be more kindly described as old-fashioned. The impeccable craft of the film, with some of the best talent lining up on the credit roll, nails the tonal recall of Hollywood’s Golden Age, when this kind of inspiring biopic was de rigeur.
- Sarah Ward @ artsHub
- Andrew Wyatt @ St. Louis Magazine
- Excerpt: Jolie’s film is a bit more rawboned than most awards season biopics, but still disappointingly pedestrian.
