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James earl jones, authoritative actor and voice of darth vader, dies at 93, ‘unbroken’: what the critics are saying.

Angelina Jolie enlists cinematographer Roger Deakins and the Coen brothers for her war drama, which stars Jack O’Connell, Domhnall Gleeson, Miyavi and Garrett Hedlund

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Quinn Costello

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Unbroken , out Thursday, is a biopic war drama based off the 2010 book by Laura Hillenbrand about Olympian Louis Zamperini and his time as a prisoner of war in WWII Japan. The film marks  Angelina Jolie ’s second outing as a director, inspired by her interaction with the real-life Zamperini, whom Jolie discovered was her neighbor  after reading Hillenbrand’s novel.

See more   Inside THR’s Director Roundtable With Angelina Jolie, Christopher Nolan

The last of 2014’s high-profile awards hopefuls, starring  Jack O’Connell and featuring a script by Ethan and Joel Coen , Unbroken may be in the running  for multiple Academy Awards including best picture and best director.

Read what top critics are saying about Unbroken :

The Hollywood Reporter ‘s  chief film critic Todd McCarthy writes, “What Jolie succeeds in doing to a substantial degree is representing her hero’s physical ordeal and his tenacious refusal to give up when it would have been very easy to do so. What she and her more than estimable quarter of screenwriters — Joel and Ethan Coen , Richard LaGravenese and William Nicholson — have not entirely pulled off is dramatizing the full range of Louie’s internal suffering, emotional responses and survival mechanisms. Nor have they made any of the secondary characters pop from the anonymous background of prisoner extras.”

He does, however, praise the characterization of the film’s major players. “O’Connell is a pleasure to watch at all times here. He has energy, seems watchful and resourceful by instinct, is open to others and, crucially, seems like a man who, even when he doesn’t necessarily win, will nonetheless prevail.” And “the flashy role of the dreaded Bird is charismatically filled by Japanese singer Miyavi, … the young actor, working mostly in English, has a beauty and good sense of timing that serve him well in this malevolent part.” Overall, he asserts that Unbroken is “a well acted and visualized, if not fully rendered, telling of a fine book and a great life.”

Read More: Golden Globes: 24 of the Biggest Film and TV Snubs

The Washington Post ’s Michael O’Sullivan  says, “The most surprising thing about the sturdy, if slightly starchy, storytelling of Unbroken is that it comes courtesy of director Jolie, an artist never known for constraint in front of the camera. The actress’ sophomore effort as a feature filmmaker, after 2011’s In the Land of Blood and Honey , is impeccably acted, handsomely filmed and written, with a lean muscularity, by a quartet of heavyweights.”

Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News , who gives the film a full five stars,   says, “O’Connell, an unknown Irish actor, gives a gripping, nail-biting performance, going down to skin and bones while maintaining a proud stoicism. As his antagonist, Miyavi is a baby-faced monster weaned on shame and indignity. They’re caught in Roger Deakins ’ crisp, gorgeously old-fashioned cinematography and accompanied by Alexandre Desplait ‘s bold score.”

Read More: Making of ‘Unbroken’: Angelina Jolie Fought “Uphill Battle” in Bringing True Story to Screen 

While she also praises O’Connell’s performance, L.A. Weekly ’s Amy Nicholson has a differing overall perception: “Jolie is more fixated on gore than grace. In making us feel every crushing blow — the better to burnish her reputation as a serious director — we’re shortchanged on the beauty of Zamperini’s story, and we exit blinking into the theater lobby with our hands still clenched in fists. Unbroken wants it all: the big cinematography, the close-up grit, the postcard flashbacks and the grisly Götterdämmerung that earns directors awards. But it aches for a lighter touch — the facts of Zamperini’s life more than stand on their own.”

Richard Corliss of Time  attributed critics’ mixed reviews to “the tantalizing inevitability of gravity and grandeur” that the film seemed to promise all year long. “For many reviewers, the build-up led to a big breakdown when they finally saw it,” he notes. “If the Unbroken needle stops at Impressive and doesn’t quite rise to Enthralling, it’s because Jolie stints on exploring the doubts that tortured Louis nearly as much as Watanabe’s punishments did, and whose details so enriched Hillenbrand’s biography. Even Jesus in his final hours felt stung by the betrayal of his friends and his Father. Jolie’s Louis is almost more Christlike than Christ.” In his opinion, however, O’Connell’s performance makes up for any shortcomings in execution: “Jolie has made a grand, solid movie of the Zamperini story, but O’Connell is the part of Unbroken that was truly worth the wait.”

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Common Sense Media Review

Intense WWII biopic is inspiring but doesn't go deep enough.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Unbroken is Angelina Jolie's affecting, inspiring biopic about Louis Zamperini (Jack O'Connell), an Olympic athlete who finds himself tested all sorts of ways during World War II, culminating in a two-year stint in a Japanese prison camp. As expected based on the source material (the…

Why Age 14+?

Plenty of war-related violence. Early scenes show aerial combat, with planes and

Brief profanity includes a partial "f--k," "s--t," "damn," and "ass."

A teen boy takes swigs from liquor disguised in milk bottles. Some characters sm

Non-sexual nudity includes a scene in which prisoners are forced to undress, and

Any Positive Content?

The main character's intense determination helps him make it to the Olympics and

Zamperini managed to survive 47 days stranded at sea and then two years in a Jap

Violence & Scariness

Plenty of war-related violence. Early scenes show aerial combat, with planes and crewmen getting shot up and exploding. Then a trio of men is lost at sea in a small raft, struggling to survive; they take on sharks with their bare hands. The last act takes place in a Japanese POW camp run by a brutal sadist. The prisoners are beaten with sticks, threatened with swords, given meager rations, and forced into slave labor. They're also forced to undress; their bare bottoms are shown, and they cover their genitals with their hands.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

A teen boy takes swigs from liquor disguised in milk bottles. Some characters smoke cigarettes (accurate for the era). Adult soldiers drink beer.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Non-sexual nudity includes a scene in which prisoners are forced to undress, and viewers see their bare bottoms.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

The main character's intense determination helps him make it to the Olympics and, later, to survive as a POW, despite unbearably horrible circumstances. This is definitely a story about perseverance and triumph in the face of adversity.

Positive Role Models

Zamperini managed to survive 47 days stranded at sea and then two years in a Japanese POW camp because of his grit, resilience, and unbreakable will. Other characters are shown deteriorating, both physically and mentally.

Parents need to know that Unbroken is Angelina Jolie 's affecting, inspiring biopic about Louis Zamperini ( Jack O'Connell ), an Olympic athlete who finds himself tested all sorts of ways during World War II, culminating in a two-year stint in a Japanese prison camp. As expected based on the source material (the script was adapted from Laura Hillenbrand's book about Zamperini's life), there are plenty of scenes showing torturous abuse, including beatings, verbal harangues, and psychological attacks; some of it is quite difficult to watch. Aerial combat footage includes explosions, and Zamperini's time adrift on the ocean is also intense; at one point, he and his boatmates take on sharks with their bare hands. Language is infrequent and mild, but some early scenes portray a teenager smoking and drinking. Families may want to check out Hillenbrand's young adult adaptation of her bestselling book. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (9)
• Kids say (45)

Based on 9 parent reviews

Certainly not a feel good movie, but worth the watch.

What's the story.

Based on Lauren Hillenbrand's same-named book, UNBROKEN tells the true story of Louis Zamperini ( Jack O'Connel l), an Olympic athlete who impressed the world in the 1936 Olympics by running the final lap of the 5,000-meter event in a blazing 56 seconds. And later, after surviving 47 days adrift in the Pacific after a plane crash, he became a POW in Japan for two years. Remarkable and resilient, Zamperini survives the meanest challenges of life, including being stranded on a raft with two other crewmen, only to be picked up by a Japanese naval ship and spirited behind enemy lines, where he's beaten and tortured.

Is It Any Good?

This movie will undoubtedly leave audiences with nothing but admiration for the strong, noble Zamperini, and for this alone, it's worth watching. It's also notable for its lush cinematography and disciplined storytelling, which doesn't rely overly on swelling music and other tricks to make audiences feel with a capital F.

But for a film that does so much, Unbroken still falls short in some aspects. A footnote at the end hints at incomparable kindness that Zamperini bestowed upon his enemies, and yet this is told in words rather than images. It's a pity. And though it's clear Zamperini survives partly by holding on to the lessons his brother gave him -- words that echo through his head and that the audience hears -- it feels like there's much more depth to him that's left unexplored. And what of his pain? The film hints that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder of some kind; completely understandable, given the circumstances, but nothing makes a man even more unbroken than to have survived all so much while still maintaining the measure of grace that historians said Zamperini had -- but that's not quite reflected here. We would have loved to have seen the whole story.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Unbroken 's violent scenes. How do the prison camp abuse scenes make you feel? Did they need to be included so audiences could understand what Zamperini went through? How do they compare to the scenes of aerial combat and of the men adrift in the ocean? Which had the most impact on you, and why?

How does battle affect people? Do you think movies and TV shows depict it realistically? What are the consequences?

What do you think kept Zamperini persevering , despite all the challenges he faced? How is he a role model ? Do you think the film portrays him accurately?

Movie Details

• In theaters : December 25, 2014
• On DVD or streaming : March 24, 2015
• Cast : Jack O'Connell , Domhnall Gleeson , Jai Courtney
• Director : Angelina Jolie
• Inclusion Information : Female directors
• Studio : Universal Pictures
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : History
• Character Strengths : Perseverance
• Run time : 137 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : war violence including intense sequences of brutality, and for brief language
• Last updated : May 15, 2024

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Part of our admiration for athletes is we want to see their physical greatness as greatness of character.  We apply these same expectations to actors and musicians as well, but we see in them artistic expression rather than an objective metric.  In an athlete, we see the power of the human body and therefore someone who is able to push their physicality to extraordinarily levels must also be an extraordinary person overall.  It's why we're shocked and disappointed that our sports idols can sometimes be scumbags—we expected more from healthy people who are really good at a game.  Angelina Jolie 's Unbroken labors under the impression that the measure of a man is in physical ability and little else.  She has made a movie that is essentially torture porn but coated it in the veneer of respectability and triumph.

Following a rebellious childhood, Louis Zamperini ( Jack O'Connell ) works hard to become an Olympian runner, and he races in the 1936 Olympics.  His brother Pete ( Alex Russell ) teaches him the credo "If you can take it, you can make it," which Zamperini follows through his harrowing travails in World War II when his plane crashes and he's stranded at sea for 47 days.  Zamperini's life becomes worse when he's "rescued" by the Japanese navy and thrown into a POW camp run by the cruel, twisted Mutsushiro "The Bird" Watanabe ( Miyavi ), who beats the prisoners mercilessly.

To be clear: nothing I write here is to dismiss or diminish Zamperini's incredible story.  My criticisms refer to the depiction of that story and where Jolie put her focus.  She reduces the sum total of Zamperini's accomplishments to positivity and physical endurance.

When Zamperini is at sea with fellow soldiers Russell Allen "Phil" Phillips ( Domhnall Gleeson ) and Francis "Mac" McNamara ( Finn Wittrock ), it's not about three guys working together to survive.  It's about Zamperini and two other guys who also survived the plane crash, and how he did everything in his power to keep them alive.  Sure, he has his moments of sadness and doubt, but when spirits are low, Good ol' "Zamp" is there to talk about his mothers' cooking and cheer everyone up.  This may have happened, but it doesn't feel real despite O'Connell's strong performance.  His actions feel like saintly endeavors.

But here's the thing about saints: they're boring .  Unless I'm watching a story designed for children, I don't want to see someone who is perfect in every way.  There's nothing wrong with competence or being good-hearted.  But what's admirable about characters is how they overcome personal shortcomings.  That's how we find a way to relate to them even if we don't match up with the specifics.  Unbroken contains its story to a guy who was inoffensively rebellious as a child (He secretly drank and leered at women! Scandalous!), and then never did anything wrong ever again because he worked hard at running.

Where Unbroken goes from a slightly mawkish survival tale to outright offensive is when Zamperini lands in the POW camp.  At sea, Zamperini must show that he's not only able to endure, but he's also resourceful.  In the POW camp, he's tormented by Watanabe from day one.  Watanabe breaks Zamperini's nose, beats him with a stick, commands the other prisoners to punch Zamperini in the face, and then has him lift a heavy wooden beam under the threat of being shot if he drops it.

Watching Zamperini and other prisoners suffer physical torment is the second half of the film, and to Jolie, what makes Zamperini great isn't a test of moral decisions or tough choices aside from some brief temptations.  Zamperini's struggle and by proxy the war is a matter of physical strength.  "If you can take it, you can make it," Zamperini tells one of his fellow prisoners.  That's a fine motivator when it comes to training, but it's absurd when applied to war.  War is horrific, cruel, and indifferent.  Plenty of strong men died in World War II.  The notion that only the strong survive is ridiculous, dismissive, and disgustingly reductive.

The most interesting part of Zamperini's story comes from two sentences in the end credits that mentioned how he worked through severe post-traumatic stress, kept his promise to serve God, and then tried to forgive his captors.  That's an emotional journey I want to see.  In our daily lives, forgiveness is so difficult, and he went to personally forgive the people who tried to kill him.  That's remarkable, and not a second of it is depicted on screen.  Jolie would prefer we spend more time watching Miyavi swing a stick at the ground with the sound effect of someone crying out in pain.

Unbroken labors under the impression that it's uplifting when really it's just sadism coated in an awards-friendly sheen.  Roger Deakins cinematography is gorgeous, but given the story Jolie is telling, it shouldn't be.  There shouldn't be tranquil shots of people dying of thirst in their tiny raft; there shouldn't be nicely framed wide shots of prisoners being forced to exercise in the cold.  The fact that the real Louis Zamperini survived the war was a triumph for him, his family, and the life he chose to lead following the suffering he endured.  Unbroken is a failure that mistakes physical strength for the strength of the human spirit.

• Angelina Jolie
• Jack O'Connell

Film Review: ‘Unbroken’

Jack O'Connell plays Olympic athlete and American war hero Louis Zamperini in Angelina Jolie's well-mounted but underwhelming WWII drama.

By Justin Chang

Justin Chang

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Impeccable craftsmanship and sober restraint have been brought to bear on “ Unbroken ,” Angelina Jolie ‘s beautifully wrought but cumulatively underwhelming portrait of Louis Zamperini , the Olympic runner-turned-U.S. Air Force bombardier who spent 47 days lost at sea and more than two years as a prisoner of the Japanese military during WWII. In re-creating the nightmarish journey so harrowingly relayed in Laura Hillenbrand’s biography, Jolie has achieved something by turns eminently respectable and respectful to a fault, maintaining an intimate, character-driven focus that, despite the skill of the filmmaking and another superb lead performance from Jack O’Connell, never fully roars to dramatic life. A bit embalmed in its own nobility, it’s an extraordinary story told in dutiful, unexceptional terms, the passionate commitment of all involved rarely achieving gut-level impact.

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With a major awards push for Jolie and her topnotch collaborators — d.p. Roger Deakins, composer Alexandre Desplat and editors Tim Squyres and William Goldenberg not least among them — Universal should be able to court a sizable worldwide audience for this capably stirring, morally unambiguous and classically polished prestige picture about an unusually spirited member of the Greatest Generation who survived a hell beyond anyone’s imagination. (Zamperini died in July at the age of 97, due to complications from pneumonia.) After languishing in development for decades, the project finally took viable shape with the 2010 publication of Hillenbrand’s book, adapted here by the unlikely team of the Coen brothers (in their third scripting-for-hire gig, after 2012’s “Gambit” and 1985’s “Crimewave”), Richard LaGravenese and William Nicholson.

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Regardless of their individual contributions, none of the credited writers faced an easy or enviable task in fashioning a feature-length narrative out of their exhaustively researched source material (for which Hillenbrand interviewed Zamperini 75 times over the course of eight years). In runners’ parlance, “Unbroken” feels like a good, steady 10k where a marathon was arguably called for: For all its scenes of intense deprivation and extreme brutality, the film never quite manages, over the course of 137 carefully measured minutes, to reproduce the feeling of a sustained endurance test. Nor does it succeed in dramatizing the human need for faith and forgiveness, one of its more baldly stated themes, in more than perfunctory, platitudinous terms.

Of course, to expect any movie to place the viewer directly into Zamperini’s spiked cleats, or even begin to approximate the depth and horror of his wartime experiences, would hold it to an impossible standard. Yet the bar is set unreasonably high from the moment “Unbroken” introduces itself as “a true story,” a presumptuous choice of words (the “based on” qualifier is conspicuously absent) that the script never fully earns as it guides us through a series of conventional, connect-the-dots flashbacks. An exciting aerial-combat prologue finds O’Connell’s Louis  — or Louie, as he was more commonly known — flying a rickety B-24 bomber over the Pacific, where he and his comrades drop their payload on Japanese bases, shoot down Zero planes and take plenty of fire in return.

In short order we’re introduced to Louie’s younger self (a perfectly cast C.J. Valleroy), a restless, often bullied and misunderstood kid from Torrance, Calif., whose trouble-making antics give his Italian immigrant parents (Maddalena Ischiale, Vincenzo Amato) no shortage of grief. Yet his older brother Pete (played at different ages by John D’Leo and Alex Russell) soon recognizes that Louie’s talent of getting himself in and out of various scrapes has made him an uncommonly fast runner, and before long the kid is not just a high-school track star but a local legend, hailed in the papers as “the Tornado of Torrance.”

“A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory,” Pete tells his brother, in one of those handy, endlessly recyclable nuggets of thematic wisdom that will resonate just a few short scenes later, when 19-year-old Louie makes it to the 1936 Berlin Olympics and places a not-too-shabby eighth in the 5,000-meter race. Although there’s a brief glimpse of Jesse Owens (Bangalie Keita) and swastika flags, foreshadowing events on the not-too-distant horizon, the film notably omits such juicy details as Louie’s brief handshake with Hitler, focusing instead on the lad’s quicksilver ability to defy the odds, to evince a sudden burst of speed or stamina when it counts most — whether that means overtaking his more seasoned opponents on the track, or surviving the horrific ordeal that awaits him on May 27, 1943.

On that day, a B-24 crashes into the Pacific, killing eight men aboard and leaving Louie stranded at sea with his pilot, Capt. Russell Alan “Phil” Phillips (Domhnall Gleeson), and tail gunner, Sgt. Francis “Mac” McNamara (Finn Wittrock). Bobbing along in two life rafts with dwindling rations, fending off attacks by neighboring sharks and Japanese bombers (at one point simultaneously), the three men will last more than a month before Mac succumbs, leaving Phil and Louie to drift, sun-scorched and emaciated, for another 15 days or so. Yet the film’s attempts to convey the slow, arduous passage of time feel rushed and noncommittal, effectively cherry-picking the book’s more memorable nautical setpieces and adding a few temporal markers (“Day 18,” etc.), quick visual dissolves and the stately swells of Desplat’s score. Following a recent wave of intensely immersive survival stories (“All Is Lost” makes a particularly instructive comparison), “Unbroken’s” streamlined, checklist-style approach seems all the more rote and obligatory.

The sense that we’re getting the slightly watered-down version persists when Louie and Phil fall into Japanese hands and are sent to Omori, a POW camp in Tokyo. The two friends are forcibly separated, and for the film’s remaining hour or so, Louie will have a far less welcome companion in the form of Mutsuhiro Watanabe (Miyavi), aka “the Bird,” a terrifyingly sadistic Japanese army sergeant who immediately takes a special interest in this quietly defiant American prisoner, in whom he sees a flickering shadow of his own ferocious life force. Yet Watanabe’s affection manifests itself in the most brutal possible way, as he beats his favorite mercilessly with a kendo stick for minor or nonexistent infractions (the camera rarely flinches even when our hero does), at one point even forcing the other prisoners to line up and punch Louie in the face for no reason, one by one.

Jolie previously examined the dehumanization of war in her little-seen 2011 directing debut, “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” a muddled but provocative drama set in 1990s Bosnia-Herzegovina. “Unbroken” serves up a similarly relentless catalog of wartime woes — filthy conditions, crippling thirst and hunger, back-breaking labor, nonstop verbal and physical abuse, nasty injuries, ritualized humiliations, and the hopeless knowledge that an Allied victory will only bring about the prisoners’ execution. Yet there’s something unmistakably soft-edged, if not sanitized, about these PG-13 horrors, the accrual of which produces a curious sort of paradox by film’s end: What we’ve seen is at once plenty grueling and nowhere near grueling enough, on the basis of what Zamperini really went through. (“Where’re the maggots? Where’s the dysentery?” my screening companion whispered over the closing credits, unsatisfied by a relatively tasteful scene of Louie and his fellow inmates disposing of their presumably disease-ridden excrement.)

Any dramatic account of real-life events must of course filter and condense, yet several omissions in “Unbroken” are especially telling: We’re denied any real sense of the young Louie’s insatiable appetite for mischief; nor do we see him and his comrades conversing in secret code, or paying hilariously flatulent tribute to Japan’s Emperor Hirohito, or conceiving a desperate plot to murder Watanabe — or, barring that, inducing a crippling bout of diarrhea that puts the miserable sergeant out of commission for more than a week. Jolie sensitively conveys the solemn intimacy and tender camaraderie that arise among men at war, but she never captures these soldiers in all their bawdy, rough-and-tumble vigor and rebellious energy; nor does she evoke the fire in Zamperini’s belly that made him not just a survivor but a natural-born leader, his instincts and intellect as nimble as his feet.

To its credit, the movie doesn’t shy away from showing Louie praying his way through much of his ordeal, at one point promising to dedicate his life to God in the unlikely event that he survived. (He did, and he did.) Indeed, “Unbroken” is not above turning its subject into a sort of 20th-century Christ figure, namely when the Bird forces Louie to lift a heavy beam over his shoulders and hold the position for what feels like hours on end. Yet the dramatic seeds that are planted here never fully take root: Zamperini’s post-rescue conversion and his subsequent attempts at a moral reckoning with his captors are dispensed with in the closing titles, leaving you blinking at the unrealized potential of a longer, bolder and more spiritually inquisitive movie than this one.

Where Jolie’s restraint pays off is in her keenly concentrated focus on Louie’s interior journey; there is a brief cutaway to the distressed Zamperini family at a logical point in the narrative, but little in the way of contextualizing dates and details, and only the barest of allusions to the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the war draws to a close. All in all, given its subject, “Unbroken” is a remarkably quiet picture; the men’s dialogue exchanges tend toward the terse and sardonic, while the silences are often freighted with tension and anxiety, and Jolie wisely lets much of the drama play out in her actors’ unfailingly eloquent faces.

It’s been a while since a young male performer seized the screen with such startling force as O’Connell, whom festival and arthouse audiences may know from his excellent performances in the recent “Starred Up” and the forthcoming “’71.” The conception of his character here may leave something to be desired, but O’Connell’s acting has rarely been more soulful or delicate: Once more he has placed his extraordinary physicality in service of an intensely demanding role, requiring him to run like the wind, stand as still as a stone and undergo any number of weight fluctuations in between. Yet it’s also a performance built from innumerable fine-grained details — a suddenly clenched posture or a quickly downturned glance, to name two of Louie’s natural responses whenever the Bird appears.

Miyavi, a Japanese singer-songwriter making his bigscreen debut, was a smartly counterintuitive choice for the role, and if he never quite nails the perverse sexual rapture that Watanabe derives from the abuse he dishes out, the actor more than upholds his half of the film’s sinister psychological duet. (He also may help stir his fans’ interest in a picture whose matter-of-fact treatment of Japanese brutality will require especially careful handling in Asian markets.) Gleeson, going blond for a change, is excellent as the faithful friend who serves as an occasional spiritual guide to Louie; of the other soldier roles, Garrett Hedlund has the most substantial screen time as Louie’s ally Cmdr. John Fitzgerald.

Whether shooting on land, in air or at sea (with Australian locations ably standing in for all three), Deakins delivers unsurprisingly beautiful images of exceptional richness and clarity. The visuals achieve a particularly vivid sense of place in production designer Jon Hutman’s meticulous re-creations of Omori and Naoetsu, the camp to which Zamperini was transferred in March 1945; no less impressive is the fluidity of the camerawork in and around the tight interiors of the B-24s, enhanced considerably by the input of adviser Bob Livingstone. Even when the characters’ faces and bodies are smudged with blood, mud, soot and worse, the technical package is never short of immaculate.

Reviewed at Writers Guild Theater, Beverly Hills, Nov. 30, 2014. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 137 MIN.

• Production: A Universal release presented with Legendary Pictures of a Jolie Pas, 3 Arts Entertainment production. Produced by Angelina Jolie, Clayton Townsend, Matthew Baer, Erwin Stoff. Executive producers, Mick Garris, Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni. Co-producers, Michael Vieira, Holly Goline-Sadowski, Joseph Reidy.
• Crew: Directed by Angelina Jolie. Screenplay, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese, William Nicholson, based on the book by Laura Hillenbrand. Camera (color, Alexa digital, widescreen), Roger Deakins; editors, Tim Squyres, William Goldenberg; music, Alexandre Desplat; production designer, Jon Hutman; supervising art director, Charlie Revai; art directors, Bill Booth, Jacinta Leong; set decorator, Lisa Thompson; set designers, Nicholas Dare, Andrew Kattie, Ross Perkin; costume designer, Louise Frogley; sound, David Lee; supervising sound editors, Andrew DeCristofaro, Becky Sullivan; sound designers, Eric A. Norris, Jay Wilkinson; re-recording mixers, Frank A. Montano, Jon Taylor; special effects supervisor, Brian Cox; visual effects supervisor, Bill George; visual effects producer, Steve Gaub; visual effects, Industrial Light & Magic, Animal Logic, Lola VFX; stunt coordinator, Glenn Boswell; assistant director, Joseph Reidy; casting, Francine Maisler.
• With: Jack O'Connell, Domhnall Gleeson, Miyavi, Garrett Hedlund, Finn Wittrock, Jai Courtney, John Magaro, Luke Treadaway, Alex Russell, John D'Leo, Vincenzo Amato, Ross Anderson, C.J. Valleroy, Maddalena Ischiale. (English, Japanese, Italian dialogue)

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This passion project for Angelina Jolie shines in every frame with her abiding love for Louis Zamperini and his courage under fire. Zamperini died of pneumonia in July, at 97, but not before Jolie showed him a rough cut of the film on her laptop. In case you never read Unbroken, Seabiscuit author Lauren Hillenbrand’s 2010 bestseller about Louis’ life, here’s a quick rundown: Raised in Torrance, California, the son of Italian immigrants, Louis was a bad boy destined for jail or worse until his older brother turned him on to running. He was good at it, competing in track at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin (Hitler noticed him). During World War II, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps. When his B-24 went down in the Pacific, Louis survived on a life raft for a scarifying 47 days until he and others were captured by the Japanese, then starved and tortured for two years in a POW camp.

I could go on, as the book does, describing Louis’ PTSD and alcoholism until Billy Graham helped him find God. But Jolie wisely ends her film with the war, which still leaves enough material to fill a miniseries or two. Hillenbrand’s critics accuse her of riding the surface of Louis’ blatantly inspirational tale. Jolie, working from a script polished by no less than the Coen brothers, needed to dig deeper, meaning she had to find the right actor to play Louis. Her choice, Jack O’Connell, justifies her faith. O’Connell ( Starred Up ) is a British dynamo with a true actor’s instinct for getting inside a character’s head. On the raft with fellow airmen Phil (Domhnall Gleeson) and Mac (Finn Wittrock), it’s Louis who musters a glimmer of hope while sharks circle as relentlessly as despair. O’Connell makes us see how hard-won that hope is.

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In only her second feature as director, following 2011’s Bosnian drama In the Land of Blood and Honey , Jolie shows remarkable confidence and compassion. She excels in the vicious camp scenes (PG-13 pushed to the limit), in which Louis meets Watanabe, a.k.a. the Bird, a sadist guard whose love/hate for the Olympic athlete is chillingly pervy. Japanese rock star Miyavi (born Takamasa Ishihara) plays his first screen role with mesmeric brilliance, making the Bird’s physical elegance a striking contrast to the savagery of his inhuman punishment.

Unbroken is beautifully crafted even in its brutality. A sequence near war’s end, when Louis and the POWs are herded to a river expecting to be murdered en masse, is memory-scarring. Jolie has an army of craftsmen in her corner, notably camera poet Roger Deakins ( No Country for Old Men ). But it’s her vision that gives Unbroken a spirit that soars. In honoring Louis’ endurance, she does herself proud.

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‘Unbroken’ Reviews: Angelina Jolie’s Star Jack O’Connell Gets More Critical Praise Than She Does

Reactions to the awards hopeful are mixed

After much hype from Universal Pictures, Angelina Jolie ‘s “Unbroken” finally hits theaters on Christmas Day — but is it any good?

According to the critics counted on Rotten Tomatoes , it’s fine, but probably not the awards contender the studio was hoping for. Although declared “rotten” with a 48 percent critic approval rating, individual reviews seem to be filled with mixed emotions that should boost Jolie’s confidence behind the camera, and star Jack O’Connell ‘s in front of it.

TheWrap ‘s Alonso Duralde, for example, found the movie flawed, but full of strengths that will hopefully carry on to Jolie’s third directorial effort, “By the Sea.”

“There are powerful moments in ‘Unbroken,’ to be sure, but it also feels like the kind of generically grand-scale movie that five other directors could have made in exactly the same way,” Duralde wrote in his review . “Ultimately, the strengths of ‘Unbroken’ far outweigh its flaws; given that we know the fate of its protagonist, Jolie keeps us engaged in his travails, which the similarly-themed ‘Rosewater’ didn’t manage to do.

“It’s a handsome production, featuring a fine ensemble (that also includes Garrett Hedlund ) who remain on-point through what must have been difficult filming circumstances, as well as a potent reminder that the Second World War, for all the glamorizing it endured over the ensuing decades, was as horrifying and devastating as any other conflict in human history.”

Entertainment Weekly critic Chris Nashawaty praised O’Connell’s turn as real-life war hero and Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini, and but wanted more “spark of danger” from Jolie behind the camera.

“[Jolie] turns the undeniably inspiring true story of Louie Zamperini into an oddly old-fashioned drama. It’s gorgeously shot and beautifully acted, and it has moments of heartbreaking poignancy, but it’s also nearly suffocated by its own nobility,” Nashawaty wrote. “O’Connell, a real star on the rise who bristled with mad-dog menace in the recent prison drama ‘Starred Up,’ is totally hypnotic. And the physical deprivation he underwent for the role is impressive. I just wish that Jolie’s film had the same rawness. Instead, it’s moving, admirable, and occasionally exhilarating.”

USA Today critic Claudia Puig extended many of the same compliments, but pointed out a major flaw: It’s “slow to the point of tedium.”

“Perhaps fewer scenes chronicling his torturous days at the prison camp and a conclusion that included his attempts at reconciliation would have made the story more compelling,” Puig wrote. “A closing shot of the real Zamperini, at 80, running at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan, is deeply moving. He died earlier this year at 97. A documentary featuring his personal recollections might have been more fascinating than this big Hollywood movie. Though O’Connell’s vulnerable lead performance is terrific, ‘Unbroken’s’ unrestrained hero worship undermines the story.”

LA Weekly critic Amy Nicholson found that Jolie’s approach to telling the powerful story of an Olympian lost at sea, and then brutally tortured by the Japanese was a touch too brutal for her taste.

“Jolie is more fixated on gore than grace. In making us feel every crushing blow — the better to burnish her reputation as a serious director — we’re shortchanged on the beauty of Zamperini’s story, and we exit blinking into the theater lobby with our hands still clenched in fists,” Nicholson wrote. “‘Unbroken’ wants it all: the big cinematography, the close-up grit, the postcard flashbacks and the grisly Götterdämmerung that earns directors awards. But it aches for a lighter touch — the facts of Zamperini’s life more than stand on their own.”

Digital Spy critic Simon Reynolds was particularly impressed with the picture, shot by cinematographer Roger Deakins — an 11-time Oscar nominee — and recommended it wholeheartedly to those voting for this year’s Academy Awards.

“‘Unbroken’ looks poised to break into the Best Picture Oscar race. Trauma cuts deep into the heart of its hero, but the intensity never ratchets up to a level that’s likely to put off the silver-haired Academy voters who hold plenty of sway,” Reynolds wrote. “Perhaps the most impressive thing about “Unbroken” is how comfortable Jolie seems behind the camera. This has an old school classic Hollywood feel, its story an eclectic mash-up of ‘Chariots of Fire,’ ‘Jaws’ and ‘Bridge on the River Kwai.’ This is all well-worn territory, however it’s still accomplished enough to suggest acting’s loss could ultimately be cinema’s long-term gain.”

Films like “Unbroken,” and the Laura Hillenbrand book on which it’s based, capture something we all hope is true about ourselves—that we too are unbreakable. That when faced with horrendous, life-threatening situations, we would respond in similar fashion to Louis Zamperini, finding a new well of courage within ourselves and surviving the unimaginable. It is the resilience of the human spirit that has drawn us to films based on true stories again and again to experience pain and triumph in the relative comfort of a movie theater seat.

“Unbroken” opens with a powerfully staged and shot sequence of aerial combat that surprisingly defines the film’s strengths and weaknesses over the next two-plus hours. The attention to detail as Zamperini (Jack O’Connell), Russell ‘Phil’ Phillips ( Domhnall Gleeson ) and Hugh ‘Cup’ Cuppernell (Jai Courtney) spin their plane around and take aim at the enemy feels accurate. There’s a weight to the gunfire and a fragility to the aircraft itself that conveys that these people were always a more-accurate gunsight away from tragedy. And yet there’s something wrong here too. The sunset on the horizon looks like a painting. The clouds are perfectly placed for visual impact. The little drop of blood on Zamperini’s forehead can’t hide his movie star looks or movie star make-up. Everything feels accurate in its staging, and yet also not quite genuine. It’s Hollywood, old-fashioned movie accurate. And despite O’Connell’s instant charisma (the guy is going to be a MASSIVE star), this feeling never leaves “Unbroken”—the sense that we’re watching human suffering that looks too pretty and too refined to convey its intended impact.

Louis Zamperini should have become a household name for his athletic ability. The “Torrance Tornado” was a US Olympic athlete whose career was cut short when he joined World War II as a bombardier. Even in country, Zamperini is seen training, pushing himself right at the moment that most people would give up. He is the kind of runner who hangs back, and only makes his move when everyone has reached the point of exhaustion. Of course, this is a character trait that will serve him well during the nightmare he’s about to endure.

Zamperini and two other men, including Phil, survive a plane crash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. They barely make it long enough to board a raft, where the conditions of hunger, dehydration and heat exhaustion take their toll. These scenes are remarkably well-staged and executed by director Angelina Jolie and her team. They’re the best in the film, the moments in which we can feel Zamperini’s increasing desperation and likely death. They have a focus, fragility and purpose that the second half of the film lacks.

That begins when Zamperini is captured after 47 days adrift, and forced into horrific conditions and hard labor in Japanese Prisoner of War camps. Here, Jolie simply fails to convey the danger and what’s truly at stake. “Unbroken” starts to go through the motions of history recreation instead of real character drama, and while I have loved Roger Deakins ’ work in the past, it’s too “pretty” here, covering every shot in that vague beige of WWII memory, which never allows us to put ourselves in Zamperini’s speedy shoes. If we can’t feel the urgency of his plight, we won’t have the same emotional response to it as we would with more blood, more dirt, and just more danger. It becomes something we watch instead of something we experience. There’s a difference.

The relative disappointment of “Unbroken” has nothing to do with Jack O’Connell, a truly gifted actor who has emerged as a fully-formed movie star with this, his even better work in “ Starred Up ,” and next year’s great “’71.” He may not be a household name yet. He will be. In fact, he’s so good that one wishes Jolie asked more of him. Gleeson also deserves praise for taking a smaller role and making it memorable. He too is an actor really worth watching. “Unbroken” could be a film that we look back on as an early entry in the careers of major stars.

Because the disappointing thing is we won’t really look back at the film itself on its own merits. It’s one of those inspirational Hollywood dramas about which there isn’t anything “overtly wrong” with it. It’s well-cast, it looks great, it has that intense centerpiece in the raft, and it certainly conveys a true story worth telling. And yet I keep coming back to that beautiful sunrise that opens the film. It’s just too damn pretty.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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• Jack O’Connell as Louis Zamperini
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• Angelina Jolie
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UNBROKEN (2014) review

written by: Joel and Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese and William Nicholson produced by: Angelina Jolie, Matthew Baer, Erwun Stoff & Clayton Townsend directed by: Angelina Jolie rating: PG-13 (for war violence including intense sequences of brutality, and brief language) runtime: 137 min. U.S. release date: December 25, 2014

Former Olympic track star and WWII hero, Louis “Louie” Zamperini, tried for decades to get a film of his life story of survival and resilience off the ground. Universal had acquired the rights to it back in the 50s, but it didn’t actually get green lit until writer Laura Hillenbrand landed a nonfiction bestseller in 2010 with Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption, her dense account of his story. Four screenwriters worked on an adaptation and Angelina Jolie took on the project as “Unbroken” became her second directorial feature. Somehow though, everyone involved forgot the “redemption” part of the book’s subtitle opted instead to focus on the harrowing and events of the resilient Zamperini’s survival. That’s a shame, since the real amazing story is the eventual forgiveness he embraces.

“Unforgiven” opens in April 1943, with Louie ( Jack O’Connell ) serving as a bombardier in the United States Air Force aboard a B24 bomber flying above Naura, a Japanese occupied island in the South Pacific. The suspense of the mission in enemy territory is palpable, with Louie and his fellow crew members, Phil ( Domhnall Gleeson ), Mac ( Finn Wittrock ) and Hugh ( Jai Courtney ), scrambling to keep their craft together. The production value is immediately noticeable; with it’s crisp cinematography of Richard Deakins (outstanding, as always), the jolting sound design and the stirring score by Alexandre Desplat (a busy man in 2014), as the plane takes fire and crew members are badly injured.

Then the story shifts to Louie as a boy ( C.J. Valleroy ) in 1920’s Torrence, California, where he’s raised by Italian immigrant parents, often subjected to bullying and ridicule because of his heritage. Not thinking much of himself, Louie received encouragement from his older brother, Pete (John D’Leo), who suggests Louie focus on running, since he was so good and running from the local police. He does just that, as the story shifts once again, to find Louie has become a champion track runner, working his way to the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin where he sets impressive records.

War broke out, which saw Louie and his brother enlisted and brings us back to 1943, reuniting us with his surviving crew members on a different bomber on a different mission. The engines fail and the plane crashes into the Pacific Ocean, leaving Louie (whom his pals called “Zamp”) adrift at sea with Phil and Mac for 47 days. During this time Louie vows to the heavens that if he survives he will serve God the rest of his days. Through perilous weather and little supplies, Louie does his best to keep morale afloat on their two rafts, surviving on raw fish, an occasional gull as they dodge strafing from enemy planes above and fend off shark attacks from below.

At near death and with only one other crew member including himself, Louie’s raft is rescued by a Japanese ship and becomes a prisoner of war. He’s thrown into a prisoner camp outside of Tokyo, run by a cruel and mad Imperial Army Sergeant, Matsushiro Watanabe, whom the prisoners call The Bird (played by Japanese rock star, Miyavi ), who learning of Louie’s Olympic athlete past, sets out to physically and mentally break him at every turn. Louie keeps his brother’s credo in mind, “if you can take it, you can make it” in order to persevere and inspire others in the camp, such as John Fitzgerald ( Garrett Hedlund ) to have faith they will live. Indeed, many of them, including Louie, do survive and are released once the war ends after Tokyo is bombed.

Louie is soon reunited with his family back in the States, because we know he survives in order to tell his daunting story. But what becomes most interesting about Louie is what happens after the war, something Jolie has us read on the screen just before the end credits. We learn in a handful of sentences that Louie overcame PTSD and alcoholism and become true to his promise of serving God. What’s more impressive is how Louie decided to forgive his captors by actually traveling back to Japan and meet with them. All except The Bird, who refused to see Louie. Learning all this about Louie’s post-war life is the real amazing story.

We know war is horrific, being lost at sea is grueling and life in prison camp is agonizing. All three of these traumatizing events have been captured on film since the medium was invented, specifically tales of survival tales. The fact that Zamperini, or anyone for that matter, endures and survives such tragedies is incredible, but a survivor’s story never ends once they have finished their ordeal. What can be even more noteworthy is how they deal with the psychological toll of it all once they assimilate back to the life they once knew.

In Louie’s case, one particular Bill Graham event he attended with his wife impacted him tremendously. The evangelist spoke about forgiveness and how a lack of forgiveness in one’s life only damages that individual. That’s powerful, life-changing and timeless to cover in any story, but Jolie and the screenwriters really missed out on an opportunity to bring something completely different to this genre. I was shocked and mad that there was a decision to sum up Louie’s unprecedented act of forgiveness in what is essentially a slideshow. That decision is disappointing and actually kind of disrespectful to the full life Louie had after all that he endured.

While the strong lead performance by O’Connell is powerful (you should really check him out in the recent “Starred Up”), his Zamperini is more of a symbol than a real character. Rarely are we taken inside his head or see him struggle with depression or doubt like so many around him. Despite O’Connell and his co-stars physically transforming into rail thin skeletons to depict life at sea and in camp, (although, I found it a little odd that the facial hair they grew looked somewhat manicured) “Unbroken” finds Jolie hitting all too familiar beats. The one-dimensional portrayal of The Bird became grating and annoying, relegating the character to The Villain, frustrated and envious of Zamperini, but nothing more. Sadly, our protagonist is equally one-dimension here as well.

Ultimately the film is a missed opportunity, cheating viewers from a complete and truly remarkable story of a multi-dimensional man who was more than just a symbol of strength and resilience. “Unbroken” shouldn’t have ended where it did and could be appropriately retitled as “Unfinished”.

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Official Discussion: Unbroken [SPOILERS]

Synopsis: American World War II hero Louis "Louie" Zamperini, a former USA Olympic track star, survives a plane crash in the Pacific, spends 47 days drifting on a raft, and then more than two and a half years living in several Japanese prisoner of war camps.

Director: Angelina Jolie

Writers: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese, William Nicholson

Jack O'Connell as Louis "Louie" Zamperini

C.J. Valleroy as young Louis Zamperini

Domhnall Gleeson as Russell "Phil" Phillips

Miyavi as Mutsuhiro "The Bird" Watanabe

Garrett Hedlund as John Fitzgerald

Finn Wittrock as Francis "Mac" McNamara

Jai Courtney as Hugh "Cup" Cuppernell

Luke Treadaway as Miller

Travis Jeffery as Jimmy

Jordan Patrick Smith as Cliff

John Magaro as Frank A. Tinker

Alex Russell as Pete Zamperini

Maddalena Ischiale as Louise Zamperini

Morgan Griffin as Cynthia Applewhite

Savannah Lamble as Sylvia Zamperini

Sophie Dalah as Virginia Zamperini

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 53%

Metacritic Score: 48/100

After Credits Scene? No

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Unbroken Parent Guide

This powerful tale of tenacity and eternal optimism is worth seeing. there doesn't seem to be anything more inspirational than a human spirit that refused to be broken..

This bio-drama tells the story of Louis Zamperini (played by Jack O'Connell) who was an Olympic runner before he entered World War II where his ability to be a true champion is challenged in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp.

Release date December 25, 2014

Run Time: 138 minutes

Official Movie Site

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The guide to our grades, parent movie review by kerry bennett.

Laura Hillenbrand’s book Unbroken has spent more than 180 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list. At least 15 of those weeks it sat comfortably in the number one spot. Now the story of Louis Zamperini comes to the big screen under the direction of Angelina Jolie.

The young Louis (C.J. Valleroy), son of Italian immigrants, spends much of his childhood running into trouble with the police until his brother Pete (John D’Leo) convinces him to try out for the school track team. Finally with something worthwhile to run for, Louis (Jack O’Connell) becomes an athletic star in Torrance, California where his family lives. And then in 1936, he is named the youngest American qualifier for the 5000-meter race at the Summer Olympics in Berlin.

That Louis survives is incredible. That he goes on to forgive is almost unbelievable.

Yet many readers inspired by Hillenbrand’s book may be disappointed by the film’s depiction of Louis’ faith, or in this case, the lack of a depiction of his faith. As a child, Louis sits through a pulpit-thumping sermon on loving your enemies. And one of Louis’ fellow crewmen offers a prayer of gratitude after they make a miraculous landing with a battered plane. Louis even pleads for God to save them during a horrendous storm at sea. But the movie stops short of showing the prayers and promises to God that helped this captive endure his time on the raft and in the camps.

Still this powerful tale of tenacity and eternal optimism is worth seeing, at least for older audiences who can tolerate the abuse this soldier is subjected to on a regular basis. Along with some warfare and the suffering experienced on the raft, are lengthy portrayals of his plight as a prisoner. During these Mutsuhiro is depicted as something akin to a savage schoolyard bully. Disappointed by his own inability to rise in the ranks of leadership, he takes pleasure in torturing his captives with brutal beatings and cruel treatment. (In one scene, Louis is forced to hold a heavy beam over his head for an extended period of time.)

Despite the on-going setbacks in his life and the horrific treatment during his internment in Japan, Louis remains hopeful. And there doesn’t seem to be anything more resilient or inspirational than a human spirit that refuses to be broken.

About author

Kerry Bennett

Unbroken rating & content info.

Why is Unbroken rated PG-13? Unbroken is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for war violence including intense sequences of brutality, and for brief language.

Violence: Planes drop bombs on a city. Airplanes engage in battles. Bloody injuries are shown along with the death of some characters. A young boy is attacked and beaten. A youth steals items and then outruns the police. A child is shown getting the strap from his father. A crew makes a dangerous crash landing. Later another plane crashes into the ocean killing most of the crew. Men catch and cut open a bird and a fish. Characters are attacked by sharks, shot at by an enemy plane and subjected to dehydration and starvation. Enemy soldiers capture men. The sounds of a beating are heard. Characters are imprisoned, beaten with clubs, forced to stand in the cold, hit over the head repeatedly and forced to take off their clothes. Some characters endure broken bones. Soldiers are lined up and forced to hit another man in the head. Dead bodies and skulls are seen. A man falls to his death. A man is forced to hold a beam over his head. Soldiers are subjected to public humiliation and threats. Other disturbing scenes of torture and violence are seen.

Sexual Content: A boy positions himself under the stairs so he can look up girls’ skirts. Some crude sexual comments and references are made. Male buttock nudity is seen in a non-sexual setting when men are forced to undress by their prison guards. Brief scenes of embracing and kissing are shown.

Language: The script contains scatological slang, cursing, terms of Deity, vulgarities and some ethno-cultural slurs.

Alcohol / Drug Use :A young teen drinks alcohol. Numerous adults drink and smoke.

Page last updated July 17, 2017

Unbroken Parents' Guide

More About the Movie:

Learn more about the real Louis Zamperini . This movie is based on his biography , written by Laura Hillenbrand .

From the Studio:

Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie directs and produces Unbroken, an epic drama that follows the incredible life of Olympian and war hero Louis “Louie” Zamperini (Jack O’Connell) who, along with two other crewmen, survived in a raft for 47 days after a near-fatal plane crash in WWII-only to be caught by the Japanese Navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp. - Universal Pictures

Talk about the movie with your family…

What challenges did new immigrants often face when they moved to America? What impression did Louis’ family make on the community where the lived? How does Louis’ self-image affect his outlook on life?

One soldier says that the best revenge they can exact on their captors is to make it to the end of the war alive. How did these captives work together to help and encourage one another? How did the Japanese try to break the prisoners’ unity?

Events in Louis’ post-war life are shown on slides at the end of the movie. How did his faith in God affect his ability to overcome his post-traumatic stress from the war? Why do you think he chose to forgive his captors? How do you think they felt when Louis approached them? What characteristics or qualities helped Louis endure his time on the raft and in prison?

The most recent home video release of Unbroken movie is March 24, 2015. Here are some details…

Home Video Notes: Unbroken Release Date: 24 March 2015 Unbroken releases to home video (Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy) with the following special features: - Inside Unbroken - The Real Louis Zamperini - Cast and Crew Concert Featuring Miyavi - Prison Camp Theater: Cinderella - Louis’ Path to Forgiveness

Related home video titles:

The Railway Man tells the true story of another prisoner of war held by the Japanese in WWII. Other movies depicting the Japanese involvement with the war include Bridge on the River Kwai , Emperor and Tora! Tora! Tora!

Related news about Unbroken

Home Video Release for March 24

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• DVD & Streaming
• Drama , War

Content Caution

In Theaters

• December 25, 2014
• Jack O'Connell as Louis Zamperini; C.J. Valleroy as Young Louis Zamperini; Domhnall Gleeson as Russell Allen 'Phil' Phillips; Finn Wittrock as Francis 'Mac' McNamara; Alex Russell as Pete Zamperini; John D'Leo as Young Pete Zamperini; Vincenzo Amato as Anthony Zamperini; Maddalena Ischiale as Louise Zamperini; Takamasa Ishihara as Mutsushiro 'The Bird' Watanabe

Home Release Date

• March 24, 2015
• Angelina Jolie

Distributor

• Universal Pictures

Positive Elements   |   Spiritual Elements   |   Sexual & Romantic Content   |   Violent Content   |   Crude or Profane Language   |   Drug & Alcohol Content   |   Other Noteworthy Elements   | Conclusion

Movie Review

“If you can take it, you can make it.”

Those words of exhortation come from Louis Zamperini’s older brother, Pete, when the two sons of Italian immigrants are still in high school. But it turns out Louis will need to cling to Pete’s counsel again and again throughout the excruciating trials that soon pile painfully upon him.

Bullies menace Louis in high school, resulting in fights he gets blamed for. It’s a volatile situation, especially when combined with his penchant for smoking and drinking. But Pete’s seen how fast Louis runs from teenage thugs and school administrators, so he encourages his little bro to join the track team … even offering to help him train.

Turns out Louis is fast. Really fast. As in, the fastest high school distance runner in America. Before he knows it, the so-called Torrance Tornado is competing in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he turns in a record time on the last lap of his race. Louis dreams of competing again in the 1940 Olympics in Tokyo. And he does make it to Tokyo … but hardly how he’d hoped.

World War II scuttles those Games, and Louis winds up as the bombardier on a B-24 Liberator in the Pacific—a plane that earned the nickname of Flying Coffin. That moniker proves prophetic when the engines on Louis’ bomber fail, prompting his friend (and the plane’s pilot) Russell “Phil” Phillips, to ditch it.

Louis, Phil and another airman named Mac are the only survivors. They lash two life rafts together … and begin marking time and praying for rescue as they strive to stave off starvation and sharks. Mac dies 33 days in. Two weeks after that—47 days after crashing in the ocean—Louis and Phil are rescued … by the Japanese.

Their rescue-turned-capture begins a two-year ordeal for Louis (who’s soon separated from Phil) in three different POW camps: one near where they’re captured, another near Tokyo and a third far to the north. In the last two camps, Louis and his fellows must endure not only the degradation of being prisoners of war, but the sadistic cruelty of Mutsushiro Watanabe, a monstrous man the Americans call “The Bird.”

Beaten and humiliated time and again over the course of two years, Louis takes refuge in memories of his mother’s prayers, his friend Phil’s faith and those powerful, guiding words of his older brother:

Positive Elements

Encouraged by Pete, Louis becomes a disciplined runner—discipline that takes him to the Olympics and helps him endure wartime suffering. Pete also tells Louis, “A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory. Remember that.”

After plunging into the Pacific, Louis adopts an optimistic attitude, in contrast to Mac, who cries, “We’re gonna die!” Louis responds, “No we’re not, Mac.” Mac focuses on the worst outcome, while Louis heroically remains positive. Mac dies and Louis lives, and the only difference in their fates is apparently the mental determination Louis exhibits. Indeed, as they drift for a month and a half, Louis continually stimulates his and his companions’ hope and courage.

Still, Louis isn’t made of steel. Early on in his lengthy stay at the Ōmori Detention Camp near Tokyo, he hovers near despondency, saying, “I don’t give a d–n. Let ’em shoot me.” Another American POW counters, “We beat ’em by making it to the end of the war alive. That’s our revenge, officer.” Louis once more recalls his brother’s counsel: “If I can take it, I can make it.”

The Japanese know Louis is famous and attempt to use him for propaganda purposes by coaxing him to read a script on the radio in exchange for posh treatment (a deal some Americans had already taken). Louis refuses, and he’s returned to the general prison population, knowing what awaits.

When the war ends, Louis walks into Watanabe’s empty room. He sees a picture of his tormentor as a boy standing before a stern-looking father, and an expression of perhaps compassion or understanding comes across his face as he seems to ponder how anyone could have become so cruel.

Spiritual Elements

Louis Zamperini is the youngest son of a devout Italian Catholic family. Not that he’s much interested in religion. He drinks, smokes and has an eye for the ladies. But in a moment of peril, he recalls his mother’s prayers (and we see her praying again later in the movie). He and Phil talk about faith and prayer and heaven. And we see Phil pray—taking a bit of ribbing from Louis for it.

Louis cries out to God to rescue him during a massive storm in the Pacific. “If You get me through this,” he pleads, “if you answer my prayers, I swear I’ll dedicate my whole life to You. I’ll do whatever You want. Please!” As the film ends, we’re told that Louis made good on his pledge, becoming a Christian and eventually going back to Japan to meet with his captors (though not Watanabe, who refused) in order to offer forgiveness.

In church, a priest quotes Genesis 1, a discussion that leads to the topic of Jesus’ mission to overcome darkness. He says Christ came “not to wage war on the sins of man, but to forgive them.” Jesus, he says, “smiles on sinners” and helps them “live through the darkness.”

Sexual & Romantic Content

As mentioned, Louis eyes a pretty young woman in church. He also hides under the bleachers at a track meet, looking up at the backsides of some female classmates. In a conversation about Louis’ best mile time of 4 minutes, 12 seconds, a fellow soldier quips, “I hope you’re not that fast in the sack.” We see a quick glimpse of small pinup-girl pics in an airplane. Soldiers stage a version of Cinderella at Ōmori in which they dress in drag.

Violent Content

Louis’ early run-ins with bullies who hit him foreshadow the awful brutalities he will experience later. In captivity, he is bludgeoned repeatedly with fists, feet and shafts. Watanabe carries a bamboo staff that he uses to throttle Louis and other POWs. Louis’ face and body are bloodied and bruised, and we see so much damage done to him that at times you wonder how anyone could survive such savagery.

As punishment for being “disrespectful,” Watanabe has every prisoner in the camp—hundreds of them—hit Louis in the face. We see and hear perhaps two dozen of those blows in what becomes a brutal, lengthy scene. After a number of hits, Louis isn’t able to stand any more, and Japanese soldiers hold him up for more. (Watanabe threatens to beat another, more severely injured man with his bamboo staff if the POWs refuse to hit Louis. And to his heroic credit, Louis urges his fellow prisoners to do what their captors demand so that no one else would be injured.) Louis is forced to hold a wooden beam on his shoulders for hours; Watanabe tells his men to shoot Louis if he drops it. He doesn’t, which prompts The Bird to beat Louis again. Finally, crumpled and unconscious, Louis is left outside (shirtless) until the next day.

Airmen are shot and bloodied and killed. Planes are blasted out of the sky. Tokyo is bombed, and we see the blanket-covered corpses of civilians lined up in rows. Louis, Phil and Mac’s life rafts are strafed by warplanes and attacked by a shark. The men suffer quite a lot while adrift in the Pacific, their skin painfully blistering. Mac dies, as noted, and his body is lowered into the water. A man carrying a bucket of coal trips and plunges off stairs to his death.

Japanese guards force Louis and Phil to strip naked and kneel. They think they’re about to be executed, but their captors pour water on them instead. (We see quite a lot of their emaciated bodies, including both men’s bare rears.)

Crude or Profane Language

Three s-words. We also hear a half-dozen uses of “d–n” or “d–mit,” and one or two uses each of “a–” and “b–ch.” God’s name is misused two or three times (once paired with “d–n”), and Jesus’ name is abused once. Bullies repeatedly taunt Louis with the racial slurs “dego” and “wop.” Pete throws the former slur at his brother to make him run faster.

Drug & Alcohol Content

As an adolescent, Louis seeks solace in secretly drinking (from bottles painted white to look like milk, hiding the alcohol in them) and smoking. Soldiers smoke cigarettes and cigars; we hear talk of going to a bar, and Louis drinks a beer in a posh Japanese restaurant.

Other Noteworthy Elements

We see that trying to eat a raw albatross results in vomiting for Louis, Phil and Mac. A soldier cleaning excrement from the latrine quips, “For a bunch of guys who don’t eat anything, we sure do s— a lot. I think this one’s mine.”

In one of my high school literature classes, the teacher outlined the general categories of conflicts readers might encounter in stories: man vs. himself, man vs. nature and man vs. the inhumanity of his fellow man. All of those struggles are present in Unbroken , the true story of Louis Zamperini. No sooner does Louis overcome one conflict than he’s plunged into another. And each is worse than the ones that came before.

Yet Louis somehow endures.

Directed by Angelina Jolie and based on Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling 2010 book, Unbroken suggests it’s a combination of Louis’ natural grit, memories of his mother and brother, and, ultimately, a God who cared for him that got him through. While Jolie reined in the violence and foul language enough to secure a PG-13 rating, this is a movie that reminds me a great deal of three other significant, difficult-to-watch historical dramas: Saving Private Ryan , Schindler’s List and 12 Years a Slave . As happens to so many people in those films, Louis endures unimaginable hardship, then emerges from his crucible of suffering as a heroic icon of hope, courage and perseverance.

Unbroken , then, is hard to watch but easy to praise. The horror of the inhumanity it depicts is wrenching. The triumph of one man’s spirit and heart is both astounding and deeply inspiring.

A postscript: Louis’ son, Luke, tells us that his father, who passed away just months before the film arrived in theaters (he was 97), loved the way it “handled the subject of his Christian faith.” Luke wrote for townhall.com , “Dad, you see, survived the horrors of war physically unbroken, but returned to the states emotionally shattered. Suffering from PTSD, he tried to kill the pain with alcohol and was consumed by visions of murdering his chief Japanese tormentor, a sadistic man nicknamed “The Bird” by inmates. It was only when, at the urging of my mother, he attended a Billy Graham crusade in 1949 and surrendered his life to Jesus Christ that my father truly became unbroken. The nightmares stopped. So did the drinking. And he dedicated the rest of his life to serving others.

“The film version of Unbroken does not spend a lot of screen time on his Christian conversion—detailing it in a series of text cards before the closing credits. And that is exactly the way my Dad and our entire family wanted it. … [His] greatest hope for the film version of Unbroken [was] not that it would be applauded by fellow Christians, although he certainly would have been honored and humbled by their appreciation; but that it would be seen by non-Christians drawn to a rousing epic about the indomitable human spirit who, when the credits have finished rolling, might just discover there’s a whole lot more to his story than that.”

Adam R. Holz

After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.

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Review by Brian Eggert December 29, 2014

Themes of endurance pulse through Unbroken , director Angelina Jolie’s straightforward film of Louis Zamperini’s life, which presents the wartime survivor as a Christ-like figure who perseveres to devote his life to God. An Olympic runner, who served in World War II as a bombardier, survived being lost at sea for 47 days, and then lasted two years in a Japanese POW camp, Zamperini and his life were detailed in Laura Hillenbrand’s best-selling 2010 biography. In Jolie’s hands, the story becomes a one-dimensional testament to Zamperini’s rare ability to suffer great tortures and prevail despite them. With battering symbolism and thin characterizations, the film’s overall conceptual approach resides in solemn adornment, respectful and humorless. To maintain a PG-13 rating, many of the more grotesque aspects of Zamperini’s survival story have been trimmed, but so too have his mischievous moments of camaraderie and, frankly, personality. The character becomes much like the film itself, admirable but vacant.

Everything about this Universal Studios release screams Oscar pandering, from its prestigious storytelling style to the delicately handled protagonist. Jolie’s film puts “Louie” Zamperini on such an exalted pedestal that her film fails to sculpt a three-dimensional figure; what audiences are left with is a detailed relief, an incomplete impression of a life story with all of the humanizing qualities left on the cutting room floor. Screenwriters Richard LaGravenese and William Nicholson wrote early adaptations, while the Coen Brothers (in writers-for-hire mode) wrote the shooting script. Even the Coens fail to mine what makes Zamperini tick, beyond his desperate need to survive. Jolie’s supporting crew includes a score by Alexandre Desplat and typically gorgeous cinematography by Roger Deakins, but no matter how good the film sounds and looks, it doesn’t connect in a profound way.

The film opens with a thrilling sequence where Louie (Jack O’Connell) and his comrades soar above the Pacific in a B-24 bomber and drop their payload, only to enter a nasty battle with Zero planes. Meanwhile, the film intercuts segments of Louie’s young life (now played by  C.J. Valleroy) growing up as an Italian immigrant in Torrance, CA alongside his brother (played by actors John D’Leo and Alex Russell) and parents (Maddalena Ischiale, Vincenzo Amato). Although he’s initially bullied as a boy, he’s recognized as a fast runner and soon dubbed “The Tornado of Torrance”. While training, his brother tells him “A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory,” and therein foreshadows the rest of the film. Before Louie must test himself in ways he cannot yet imagine, he runs in the 1936 Berlin Olympics and places eighth. The film passes over how Louie actually shook hands with Adolf Hitler at the event, perhaps because it plays no significant role in what happens next.

On May 27, 1943, Louie, Capt. Russell Alan “Phil” Phillips (Domhnall Gleeson), and Sgt. Francis “Mac” McNamara (Finn Wittrock) are the only survivors when their B-24 crashes in the Pacific due to engine trouble. Only Louie and Phil survive the 47-day ordeal on the life raft, which involves storms, sharks, starvation, in-fighting, and a Japanese plane unleashing rounds upon them. Afterward, they’re sent to a POW camp in Tokyo under the cruel supervision of Mutsuhiro Watanabe (Takamasa Ishihara), aka “the Bird,” who takes particular joy in beating and humiliating our protagonist. Nonetheless, Louie endures, quietly—so quietly in fact that even O’Connell’s fine performance gives us little insight into what’s going on in Louie’s head during this period, save for his brother’s predictably repeated quote: “A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory.” When Louie survives, he returns home to his family and the end titles fill in the rest of his life.

Unabashed hero worship is the major fault of Unbroken . Jolie spends so much screen time punishing Zamperini with his experiences, and therein wowing the audience with how any human being could endure such torment, that she forgets to give us a three-dimensional character. For example, Zamperini’s faith is mentioned briefly during his plight on the life raft, but nary hinted at until the end titles, which tell us how the man lived out his remaining years serving God until his death in July 2014 at 97. The opening credits cite Unbroken as being “a true story”, as opposed to the typical “based on a true story”, which would otherwise allow for the standard liberties with an adaptation to screen. But the film has been carefully constructed into a blind adoration instead of a worthy portrait; it captures events, but not people, not gradations. With equal measures of depth and breadth, Unbroken could have been a stirring epic. But even with a 2-hour-and-17-minute runtime, Jolie fails to provide audiences with insight into the brave humanity that allowed Louie Zamperini to endure.

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One of the best Netflix movies of the year with a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score is a bittersweet exploration of grief

His Three Daughters shows why we find comfort in stories about grief

Grief is no stranger to the movies. In the last year alone, the death of a family member has been explored in everything from Julia Louis-Dreyfus' comedy-drama Tuesday to wrestling biopic The Iron Claw . But, like falling in (and out of) love, grief is one of those things that just doesn't get old on the silver screen. Like love, death affects everyone differently, but there are universal emotional truths that we never seem to get tired of watching. 

In His Three Daughters, the latest film from writer-director Azazel Jacobs, three estranged sisters, played by Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olsen, and Natasha Lyonne, reunite in their father's NYC apartment in the last days of his life. The trio grapples with their fractured sibling bonds as they try to organize hospice nurses, obituaries – and where it's appropriate for your sister to smoke weed is when your father is dying in the next room.

Waiting rooms

As the three women wait it out between the four walls of their father's home, we witness their journey through the unique sensation of 'pre-grief' – that period of limbo during a loved one's final days or weeks when it feels like you're mourning someone who's still alive. "It's a very specific kind of waiting," Coon tells GamesRadar+. "I think anyone who's been through it feels it in the film. And it was very important to [Jacobs] to capture that feeling of time and how it's passing – or not passing – rhythmically and how you're sort of hopeful for this thing to happen, and feeling guilty that you're hopeful. I think he really did a good job with that."

Olsen points out that the beeping of their father's medical monitor "kind of keeps a metronome." It "was important for [Jacobs] to feel like we get lost in time," she says. "You only know what time of day it is because of the meal that [they're] having and the timing of the nurses coming in and out, and those are the only guides for you to understand how to structure a day because it is this time warp."

With the film rarely leaving the confines of the apartment or the back-and-forths of the central trio, watching it feels a little like watching a play. For Jacobs, though, it was important to distinguish between the two mediums: these limitations are a feature rather than a bug. "I was trying to look at, like, how this wouldn't be a play, and how this couldn't be a play," he explains. "So part of that is the way that it's shot, and that it's isolating [the sisters] in frames, but also that the film doesn't move in real-time, which a play would. I felt like I needed time to move in these very shifting ways. I needed to isolate them as individuals in the way that only film could."

Generation game

Another isolating factor in the film is motherhood – both the absence and presence of it. The sisters have two different mothers, with their father remarrying Rachel's mother after the death of Katie and Christina's, but both of their father's wives are dead, only mentioned in passing, so their dad is all they have left. 

On the flip side, Katie and Christina have their own daughters, elusive presences scattered like breadcrumbs through the script. Christina speaks often of her young daughter Mirabella, while we catch snippets of Katie's tense phone conversations with her family back home. For Jacobs, motherhood was a way of separating the sisters twofold – not only is Rachel the only one of them who has a different mother, she's the only sister without her own kids. 

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"It felt like [the sisters] came out pretty realized as I was writing and it felt like there was already a sense that Katie could be a mother, just by the approach that she has towards life," he explains. "And then because Christina is the one that's living the furthest away, it feels like she really, truly could have a whole other life going on, and that would include having a family, and then Rachel, because she lives at home, that's the one that we can see, 'Oh, there's no kid there,' and that's one more big difference between her and her other sisters."

Adding a third generation into the mix was also vital for making the film more honest, says Coon. "I think it makes the movie relatable, because there seems to be a very large segment of the population who's dealing with the death of their parents while they're raising their children," she tells us. "Maybe it's because we're having kids later, or something. People are really being struck by the movie because of that very particular challenge when you're straddling two generations, and they both require all of your attention, and so everything's getting short shrift. I think we're all moving through the world that way."

As a no-frills character drama, then, His Three Daughters is a frank portrayal of a disjointed family coming to terms with the impending loss of their only unifying factor. Katie, Christina, and Rachel's isolation is only intensified by their close proximity and confinement under one roof –.as the three sisters try to relate to each other, all three of them are just trying to be seen in their own right. Grief is lonely and claustrophobic all at once, which is why stories about death never seem to get old. We may have seen the act of mourning on screen countless times before but, in recognition, we can find comfort in a familiar pain. 

His Three Daughters is out now in select theaters before arriving on Netflix on September 20. In the meantime, check out our picks of the other best Netflix movies to fill out your watchlist.

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism. 

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Joker: Folie à Deux First Reviews: Joaquin Phoenix Shines Again in 'Deranged, Exciting, and Deeply Unsettling' Sequel

Critics say todd phillips' follow-up benefits from another phenomenal performance from its lead and a strong supporting turn from lady gaga, but it may potentially prove just as divisive as its predecessor..

TAGGED AS: DC Comics , movies

Released five years ago, Todd Phillips’ Joker was an outlier among comic book movies. In addition to grossing over a billion dollars, it was nominated for 11 Oscars, including Best Picture, and it won two, including the Best Actor award for star Joaquin Phoenix . Its Tomatometer score was positive, yet the movie was divisive in its overall reception. Now, the musical-infused sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux , is less likely to be as big a phenomenon, and according to the first reviews of the movie out of the Venice Film Festival, it’s maybe not quite as good, despite another strong performance from Phoenix, plenty more technical delights, and the addition of Lady Gaga . Still, as with the first Joker , whether you love or hate it, it’s something to see.

Here’s what critics are saying about Joker: Folie à Deux :

Does it live up to expectations?

The highly anticipated sequel to Joker is as deranged and exciting as you would have hoped. — Ben Rolph, Discussing Film

Joker: Folie à Deux will surprise many people for its ingenuity… It’ll get people talking as much, if not even more, than the first. — Ema Sasic, Next Best Picture

This is one of the most unique takes on comic book characters I’ve seen on film… Phillips deserves praise for taking bold creative risks that pay off in unexpected ways. — Dorian Parks, Geeks of Color

[It’s] unlike anything I imagined it would be. — Catalina Combs, Black Girl Nerds

[It’s an] ingenious and deeply unsettling film. — Geoffrey Macnab, Independent

Folie à Deux is a movie tailored to its expectations, yes. But the Joker’s trick is that it rejects them, a bravado move from Phillips that’s sure to hemorrhage his fan base. — Luke Hicks, The Film Stage

Joker: Folie à Deux may be ambitious and superficially outrageous, but at heart, it’s an overly cautious sequel. — Owen Gleiberman, Variety

(Photo by Niko Tavernise/©Warner Bros.)

How does it compare to the first Joker ?

This is far more entertaining of a film than the first. — Yasmine Kandil, AwardsWatch

Just as bleak and formally daring… just as edgy and disturbing as its forerunner. — Geoffrey Macnab, Independent

Phillips and Silver have delivered the last thing anyone expected: a socially responsible Joker movie that finds an intriguing way to explore the consequences (both on and offscreen) of the first film. — Matthew Turner, NME

Unlike the original, which finds a perverse heroism in Arthur Fleck’s failings, Folie à Deux doubles down on how pathetic he is, and always was. — William Bibbiani, The Wrap

Though it ends up as strident, laborious, and often flat-out tedious as the first film, there’s an improvement. — Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

Die-hard fans of the first film may have some reservations about this story, which looks to course-correct some of the events and interpretations of the first film and its presentation. — Ema Sasic, Next Best Picture

(Photo by ©Warner Bros.)

Is Joaquin Phoenix still Best Actor material here?

Phoenix once again delivers an award-worthy performance… This time, it’s fascinating to watch him fully commit to the Joker persona, grappling with the duality of Arthur and the Joker like never before. — Dorian Parks, Geeks of Color

Phoenix delivers another masterful performance, this time more controlled and restrained as he goes deeper into Arthur’s psyche and showcases his impressive vocals. — Ema Sasic, Next Best Picture

Phoenix is fantastic once again as Arthur, delivering a compelling and remarkably physical performance that teeters on the edge of insanity throughout – it’s simultaneously chilling and unexpectedly moving. — Matthew Turner, NME

Phoenix’s performance is as strong as ever, adding a new layer of vulnerability to Arthur as he rapidly falls for Lee and descends back into madness. — Yasmine Kandil, AwardsWatch

His performance in Joker: Folie à Deux continues to amaze… He continues to be scary good at his craft. — Catalina Combs, Black Girl Nerds

If not topping his Oscar-winning turn in Joker, [he] at least find[s] a way to take him in a different, wholly surprising direction. — Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily

Phoenix sprawls out across the screen, luxuriantly, comfortably, and confidently…however, he never loses Arthur’s inherent goofiness even when putting on this front. — Siddhant Adlakha, IGN Movies

What about Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn?

Lady Gaga is equally good as Harleen, sparking palpably insane chemistry with Phoenix. — Matthew Turner, NME

By far the riskiest role the famous artist has taken on, she is extraordinary and lights up the screen with her deranged presence just as much as Phoenix did in the first film. — Ema Sasic, Next Best Picture

Gaga is a compelling live-wire presence, splitting the difference between affinity and obsession. — David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

Gaga shines in the sequel’s musical sequences. — Ben Rolph, Discussing Film

Gaga’s musical performance was incredible. — Catalina Combs, Black Girl Nerds

Gaga doesn’t quite reach the mania that Harley Quinn ought to have but still packs a wallop where it counts. — Kyle Anderson, Nerdist

Gaga never gets a chance to do what she did in A Star Is Born : seize the audience with her rapture. — Owen Gleiberman, Variety

Does it cater to the Batman fanbase?

As far as certain Bat-obsessed members of the fanbase who just want to see more of the same will be concerned – at certain points this feels like blatant teasing, and it’s bound to provoke a reaction. — Matthew Turner, NME

It forgets that other characters need attention. Gotham is such a rich, complex world; it’s a shame we don’t see more of it or the development of characters within it. — Catalina Combs, Black Girl Nerds

Phillips and Silver deserve credit for going their own way with a canonical DC character. But it’s difficult to imagine hard-core Batman universe aficionados being thrilled by [this] movie. — David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

Folie à Deux doesn’t follow the typical comic book movie formula viewers are used to. For some, that might be off-putting; for others, it’s a breath of fresh air that breaks away from the norm. — Dorian Parks, Geeks of Color

It’s a much-welcomed surprise to see a studio franchise film, based on DC Comics so less, care so little for genre conventions. — Ben Rolph, Discussing Film

How is it as a musical?

The musical elements of the film were phenomenal… Gaga’s musical performance was incredible. — Catalina Combs, Black Girl Nerds

The musical numbers in Joker: Folie à Deux are well-performed and incredibly entertaining. — Ben Rolph, Discussing Film

Phillips does not allow the musical aspects to resemble the go-for-broke style of most musicals from the era when Arthur probably saw them or heard records growing up. — Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily

I feel like if the movie was going to go for musical numbers, it should have gone for broke. — Kyle Anderson, Nerdist

Surprisingly, given the sheer quantity of musical numbers, the film chooses to downplay the choreography, instead focusing on the songs themselves. — Matthew Turner, NME

The musical numbers become overindulgent and only sometimes necessary. — Ema Sasic, Next Best Picture

While it’s a jukebox musical whose song selections range from Stevie Wonder to MGM standards, it is perversely dedicated to eliminating as much pleasure as possible from its song and dance numbers. — Alison Willmore, New York Magazine/Vulture

What about the score?

Hildur Gudnadottir’s score for the first Joker was so integral to the story it won an Oscar. Here she hits just the right notes again. — Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily

The score for Joker: Folie à Deux kept me engaged, on the edge of my seat, and sometimes biting my nails. — Catalina Combs, Black Girl Nerds

Hildur Guðnadóttir once again cooks with another outstanding score that elevates the film. — Dorian Parks, Geeks of Color

The most crucial of callbacks is Hildur Guðnadóttir’s phenomenal Oscar-winning score, which still retains its haunting vigor. — Yasmine Kandil, AwardsWatch

Hildur Guðnadóttir’s grave-deep, cello-sawing score is heavy enough to throw your back out, lurking in the shadows of every romantic tune or nice moment. — Luke Hicks, The Film Stage

How does it look?

Lawrence Sher returns as cinematographer for the sequel, and once again he pulls out all the stops. His lighting is rich, his framing is arch, his allegories are often painfully in your face. — William Bibbiani, The Wrap

As with the original movie, the film looks gorgeous throughout, with cinematographer Lawrence Sher making strong use of color and conjuring up some beautiful images. — Matthew Turner, NME

The film’s cinematography does a fantastic job of capturing the gritty, oppressive atmosphere of Gotham City, perfectly mirroring Arthur’s battle into madness. — Dorian Parks, Geeks of Color

Production values across the board are excellent, particularly returning Lawrence Sher’s cinematography, the production design of Mark Friedberg, and costumes from Arianna Phillips. — Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily

A few dreamlike flourishes do appear, though mostly to quote the familiar visuals of other musicals, like Jaques Demy’s French New Wave landmark The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Francis Ford Coppola’s sincere, expressionistic One from the Heart . — Siddhant Adlakha, IGN Movies

Is the screenplay good?

The screenplay is more restrained and less sensationalist than its predecessor, which works well with the themes at hand. — Ben Rolph, Discussing Film

It’s a surprisingly far more mature storyline that Phillips and Scott Silver have crafted for this sequel, continuing to deliver something entirely new with the already exhausted comic book genre. — Ema Sasic, Next Best Picture

Above all else, the script does a disservice to the complexity of Harleen Quinzel. This is far from an issue that stems from creating a new character variation, but rather its failure to commit wholeheartedly. — Yasmine Kandil, AwardsWatch

I exited the screening feeling that it was shameful that I did not care for any of the female characters in this film. — Catalina Combs, Black Girl Nerds

For a movie running two-and-a-quarter hours, Folie à Deux feels narratively a little thin and at times dull. — David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

Not enough happens in Folie à Deux . — Owen Gleiberman, Variety

Is there enough substance to go with the style?

Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver have delivered a surprisingly moving, psychologically complex tale. — Matthew Turner, NME

This sequel is far more considerate and introspective than one would expect coming from a film that featured so many gruesome kills and muddled storytelling on its ultimate goals for society. — Ema Sasic, Next Best Picture

It seems Phillips wants to comment on what’s become entertainment in a TMZ world where tabloid stories and social media dominate interest over more serious issues… Joker: Folie à Deux has some answers, and twists. — Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily

Phillips doesn’t risk misinterpretation. He’s less interested in commenting on society than in cooling down society’s temper. — Luke Hicks, The Film Stage

What’s most impressive about Joker: Folie à Deux is the way Phillips willingly undercuts his own billion-dollar blockbuster. — William Bibbiani, The Wrap

The worst thing about Joker: Folie à Deux is its unfulfilled potential… without doing or saying anything new. — Siddhant Adlakha, IGN Movies

Thumbnail image by ©Warner Bros. On an Apple device? Follow Rotten Tomatoes on Apple News .

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This Hyper-Violent British Revenge Thriller Has a Near-Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score

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The brutal bull has a fascinating story, bull's rotten tomatoes score is shocking, bull has not earned widespread attention, bull is already available on multiple streaming platforms.

Revenge movies are a dime a dozen, but Bull (2021) is something special. Developed as a British movie, it follows the adventure of a violent monster as he hunts down everyone who wronged him. While earning praise for its incredible performances and surprising twists, it never truly scratched public consciousness. All the same, critics adore the movie.

With a near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes , Bull has been Certified Fresh, which is an accomplishment that only a small percentage of movies have ever achieved. With so little institutional attention, it has largely been overlooked, but that incredible accomplishment means that it deserves some measure of recognition.

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• Bull twists a typical revenge story by featuring thrilling action and a constantly shifting narrative with an uncertain timeline.

Like most revenge stories, Bull is all about violence, death, and depravity. The movie tells the story of a man who was brutally murdered by his criminal colleagues, solely because he wanted to retain custody of his son. After reappearing through mysterious circumstances, the man — Bull — begins a slow march to achieve vengeance against everyone who wronged him. He enacts that vengeance with a horrifying depravity that features blood and gore in every direction. He even fails to show appropriate care toward his own loved ones, as he never takes any step to offer a kind hand. It presents a terrifying titular character who feels more like a horror movie villain than a fully fleshed-out protagonist.

Unlike most movies, which are told in a fairly linear fashion, Bull takes a non-linear path that features flashbacks, slow reveals, and a maddening sense of tension that underlines the entire movie. As Bull continues his march toward vengeance, the movie offers some small insight into the details behind his tortured past and the horrifying truth that lies behind his resurgence. While it never actually offers an explicit explanation for his seemingly inexplicable resurrection, there is an implied reason that only makes the story's stakes higher.

In terms of fine details, the movie is quite short. At just 88 minutes , it packs an extensive amount of story into under an hour and a half. Released on November 5, 2021, the movie was directed and written by Paul Andrew Williams ( Broadchurch ). Neil Maskell ( Raised by Wolves ) played Bull, while Lois Brabin-Platt, David Hayman, Henri Charles, David Nellist, and more relatively unknown stars helped to fill out the cast. Even without immense star power, it proved to have a lasting impact, as its story spawned an incredible critical reception that continues to earn it a remarkable place in the Rotten Tomatoes listings.

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• While it has a typical audience score, Bull has a 93% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Few movies ever obtain near-universal agreement on Rotten Tomatoes . Yet, with 45 reviews by critics — and 10 from top critics — it earned a relatively rare Certified Fresh designation. It received a 93% score on the Tomatometer , meaning that 93% of critics scored the movie positively. That does not, of course, mean that each critic rated it as a 9 out of 10, as the average score was a 7.5 out of 10 rating. Still, it is a surprising level of agreement. It is made even more impressive by the fact that every single top critic rated it positively.

The audiences were also relatively favorable. On the audience-driven Popcorn meter, the movie earned a 72% score. That's 21% less than the critics offered it, yet it's still a sign that audiences generally enjoy the movie. It even earned a 3.6 out of 5 score, which falls fairly close to the average critic rating. It does not indicate a sign that every viewer enjoyed the movie, as the Tomatometer score hints, but it is still a respectable score that says that the movie is certainly worth watching. Check out the chart below, which showcases the scores in an easy-to-read format:

Most critics and audience members cite the brutality as a reason behind the immense praise. The incredible choreography makes Bull one of the best over-the-top action or thriller movies because it never shies away from the brutality. Bull and his colleagues brutally murder everyone in their path without even much of a hint of remorse. People are burned, butchered, and tortured, and the movie moves along without lingering too long on the horror of it all. While it does influence Bull's outlook, he is depicted as an unflinching and unrepentant monster. That portrayal perfectly suits the narrative, given that the movie is just as unflinching as its titular character. Yet, while it does showcase the terror of the bloody fest, it still condemns it narratively in a message that does not feel nearly as ham-fisted as it could have been. The message is communicated without Bull needing to shove it in the audience's faces.

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• Bull never had a widespread release for domestic U.S. audiences, nor did it have a significant international release.

While Bull achieved acclaim, it never earned much attention even among United Kingdom audiences. It lacked a major theatrical release, which hampered its reach. The movie saw only limited releases in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, earning under $20,000 at the box office. The weak distribution can be attributed to the pandemic, as it had its debut on August 6, 2021 and its intended wider release was set on November 5 of that same year. Having been released before theaters fully recovered from the pandemic, it suffered from the same challenges that saw Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and The Eternals stumble at the box office.

An additional challenge was its R-rating. While many R-rated movies achieve box office success , there is rarely much attention paid to international and small-scale R-rated releases. Without an easily recognizable cast or international draw , this movie simply never earned much attention at the scale it might otherwise have achieved. It failed to draw focus from major award institutions, as the small-scale and seemingly low-budget fare never had the marketing focus that a major release needs to earn that focus. In the midst of the pandemic, it simply struggled to attract an audience.

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• Bull is currently available for streaming on various platforms.

While it never received a widespread release, Bull is available for viewers to watch. The theatrical experience is shot, but anyone with Amazon Prime can load the movie on their phone, TV, laptop, tablet, or other devices and watch Bull's rampage ensue on Prime Video . It is also available on Peacock, the Roku Channel, Hoopla, and Tubi . Viewers looking to rent, rather than stream, can find the movie on Amazon or Apple TV . With so many different options, including free viewing through Hoopla, the movie is fairly accessible for anyone who might want to watch it.

The exceptional critical reception, the fascinating story, and the uniquely dreary characters made Bull an excellent movie to stream. The ultra-violent thriller demands viewers give it a chance before dismissing it outright. With a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score and endless praise, viewers can look past the limited theatrical release to give the movie a shot in the comfort of their own homes. Considering that it is just 88 minutes long, it hardly requires much investment from viewers, who can easily access it. Bull deserves a shot, even if it failed to earn the widespread attention that reviewers argued it deserved.

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The best netflix original movie 0f 2024 just dropped with a near-perfect rotten tomatoes score.

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Rebel Ridge

One thing a lot of Netflix subscribers have gotten accustomed to over the years is the general mediocrity of most Netflix Original movies. While the streaming service has quite a few bangers when it comes to TV shows, the movie quality—especially in 2024—has been mediocre at best.

Just think of some of the stinkers we’ve had to endure this year: Rebel Moon Part 2 was even worse than the first of Zack Snyder’s space opera flops. It scored a rotten 16% on Rotten Tomatoes . Jessica Alba’s Trigger Warning was an action flick that put most reviewers to sleep, and didn’t fare much better with a 20% Rotten Tomatoes score . Jennifer Lopez starred in the widely panned Atlas, which fared even worse at 19%. None of these movies did much better with audiences.

The one movie Netflix did release that had really good reviews with audiences and critics was Glen Powell’s Hit Man, a Richard Linklater film. That managed a 95% with critics and a 91% with audiences , but it was a genuinely mediocre movie and those scores are baffling to me to this day . I seriously cannot understand why so many people thought it was good.

Even the Mark Wahlberg / Halle Berry spy film The Union failed to wow audiences or critics, with a 39% critic score and a 21% audience score . Netflix has been struggling all year to land a hit.

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Finally, however, 2024 has its Netflix Original hit in the form of Rebel Ridge (another Rebel-titled movie but not to be confused with Rebel Moon ). At the time of this writing, the Jeremy Saulnier-directed movie has a 95% with critics and 78% with audiences. I watched it last night and it scratched that action movie itch.

In many ways it’s a throwback to older 90s action movies, though perhaps more specifically this is very much a Jack Reacher film without Reacher. Instead, Aaron Pierre plays Terry Richmond, an ex-marine who finds himself in the small Southern town of Shelby Springs facing a corrupt police chief and a whole lot of trouble.

Pierre is very much a Reacher character (the joke “black Reacher” is certainly apt) and Rebel Ridge is a lot like Killing Floor, the first of Lee Child’s Reacher novels and the basis for the first season of Amazon Prime Video’s Reacher series—the good season, not the awful second season. If you don’t mind that it’s obviously quite derivative and you’re looking for a good action movie with likeable leads and a fun little conspiracy, this is great Friday-night popcorn movie entertainment. Pierre is perfect in the role: Huge, muscular and just charming enough to pull it off, with piercing eyes that really convey intelligence behind the muscled frame.

Here’s the trailer:

Richmond isn’t a drifter, but like Reacher he’s ex-military and highly skilled and dangerous. When he’s run down on his bike by a local police officer, things take a turn for the worse. The police search him and find $36,000 in his backpack—his entire life savings—which he had intended to use partly to bail out his cousin and partly to start a business. They confiscate the money using civil asset forfeiture laws, which is a problem for Richmond since he needs to bail out his cousin before he lands in prison where his life is in grave danger.

From here, things go from bad to worse as the local police force turns out to be deeply corrupt, under the leadership of police chief Sandy Burnne (played perfectly by Don Johnson).

Like Reacher, Richmond has to take matters into his own hands, with a little help from a local court assistant Summer McBride (AnnaSophia Robb)—basically the Rosco analog—a woman with a good heart and a murky backstory. There’s a few little twists and turns, but overall this is a straightforward action flick. Other stars include David Denman ( The Office ) and the always terrific James Cromwell ( L.A. Confidential ).

Non-Lethal Weapon

One of the things that really sets this film apart from any Reacher story and pretty much every action movie I’ve ever seen is that Richmond isn’t a killer. He uses non-lethal tactics throughout the movie, and the body count by the end is shockingly low for a movie with this much violence. It’s actually kind of refreshing.

Is it perfect? Of course not. While there are moments of humor, this remains a pretty serious affair and I think the best action movies are the ones with a good sense of humor—think Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Bad Boys and so forth. Is it worth watching? I certainly enjoyed it, but I’m a huge fan of the Reacher books and this type of popcorn action flick. And while it does deal with a black man being unfairly targeted by police, it never feels too preachy. This isn’t a movie that relies on current day politics to work, which I appreciate. It does take a shot at corrupt cops and our unjust justice system, but never at the expense of the story or entertainment value.

If you like this type of movie, give it a shot. I suspect—and hope—that it gets a sequel and that Pierre gets a franchise out of this. Netflix could certainly use some quality action movies, after all. (I liked the Extraction movies with Chris Hemsworth, but there hasn’t been a new one of those on Netflix in a few years).

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Terrifier 3 will struggle to replicate the second movie's surprise rotten tomatoes success.

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Terrifier 3 Looks Like It Delivers On The Scariest Movie Yet Promise

After one piece & naruto, the next hollywood live-action anime should be obvious, who tim burton originally wanted to play beetlejuice instead of michael keaton.

Although Terrifier 2 substantially improved upon Terrifier ’s reception, Terrifier 3 will have a hard time replicating this success thanks to numerous factors. 2016’s Terrifier was not a mainstream breakout hit for director Damian Leone. Earning 57% on RottenTomatoes , the intensely dark, brutal slasher earned around $400,000 upon release according to BoxOfficeMojo . However, the 2022 sequel to Leone’s killer clown horror was another story. Terrifier ’s modest success resulted in an Indiegogo campaign that funded Terrifier 2 which, alongside the support of BloodyDisgusting , brought the sequel’s budget up to $250,000. Terrifier 2 went on to earn over $15 million.

Terrifier 3 promises to be the scariest movie in the slasher series, bringing back the suspense and tension from Art the Clown's earlier outings.

While Terrifier 2 ’s ending left the door open for another installment, its reception made a sequel inevitable. Terrifier 2 was a bonafide sleeper hit, earning an incredible sum despite its limited release and even winning over critics. Since Terrifier 2 ’s success was so unprecedented, many mainstream publications neglected to even review Leone’s sequel. As a result, Terrifier 2 earned a superb 86% RottenTomatoes rating. Although 2024’s upcoming Terrifier 3 will want to build on this success, viewers expecting a repeat performance should note that the slasher’s predecessor benefited from a few unique circumstances.

Terrifier 3 Won't Have Terrifier 2's Sleeper Hit Status

Terrifier 2 was a surprise success upon release.

Many of Terrifier 2 ’s positive reviews highlighted the indie movie’s underdog origins and its low budget , since these elements make its unlikely success all the more impressive. However, Terrifier 3 won’t share these qualities. Terrifier 3 ’s bigger budget means that audience expectations will grow in proportion, which may hurt the movie’s reception. While 1999’s seminal found footage classic The Blair Witch Project was a critical hit, its sequels Book of Shadows and Blair Witch were both critically dismissed. Terrifier 3 may suffer a similar fate thanks to hype backlash.

Terrifier 3 can simply act as a bigger, bloodier, more ambitious extension of the first two movies in the series.

In fairness to the killer clown franchise, Terrifier doesn’t share one issue the Blair Witch series faced. While that franchise had to either replicate the first movie’s format or give up on its found footage style, Terrifier 3 can simply act as a bigger, bloodier, more ambitious extension of the first two movies in the series. Terrifier 2 made Art the Clown’s lore more complicated and spent more time introducing its victims, but the movie retained Terrifier’ s basic setup. Both Terrifier movies follow Art on a vicious killing spree and a Final Girl in her attempts to stop him.

Terrifier 3 Arrives Burdened With Audience Expectations

Terrifier 3 is expected to tie the trilogy together.

Admittedly, Terrifier 3 ’s story can’t be as loose as the diffuse plot of Terrifier 2 thanks to its status as the trilogy’s closing chapter. Whereas Terrifier 2 was free to experiment, Terrifier 3 will be burdened with audience expectations. Viewers expect boundary-pushing gore, but also some more clarification on the link between Art and Sienna’s father and potentially even an explanation of Art’s supernatural powers. Terrifier 3 ’s ending has to tie the franchise together, whereas the first two movies in the series were content to simply chronicle the killer’s gruesome antics. This loose structure facilitated many memorable chases and murders.

This isn’t necessarily a problem, but it does mean the filmmakers will need to focus on character and plot more than ever. To its credit, Terrifier 2 established clearer links between Art and its lead characters than Terrifier , where Art’s choice of victims was seemingly rooted in random chance. The original movie saw Art indiscriminately slaughter everyone he came across, including the movie’s apparent Final Girl. In contrast, Terrifier 2 set up Lauren LaVera’s Sienna as its heroine and built a clear connection between her and Art, making her fate more compelling. However, Terrifier 3 will need to do more.

Terrifier 2's Success Puts A Mainstream Spotlight On Terrifier 3

Many mainstream outlets didn’t even review terrier 2.

To impress mainstream critics, Terrifier 3 will need to introduce more believable characters, clearer stakes, and a more cohesive storyline t han its predecessors. While most major publications ignored Art the Clown ’s movies until 2022, the wide release and massive marketing campaign for Terrifier 3 ensures that all eyes will be on the killer clown when his third outing hits cinemas. The backlash to the highly hyped series could hurt Terrifier 3 ’s reception, but there is also a bigger problem. Namely, a lot of major mainstream outlets who didn’t even review the first two movies will be spotlighting this sequel.

Variety ’s largely negative write-up of the sequel could potentially set the tone for mainstream critical reactions.

RogerEbert.com , The New York Times , Empire Magazine , The AVClub , and many other mainstream movie magazines never even reviewed Terrifier 2 , and Variety ’s largely negative write-up of the sequel could potentially set the tone for their reactions. Thanks to the franchise’s boundary-pushing content and its self-conscious disregard for acting and storytelling, the Terrifier movies were never likely to find much purchase with critics. Terrifier 2 ’s incredible RottenTomatoes rating may have been shaped by the movie’s success among established horror fans and reviewers, rather than mainstream critics. One review of Terrifier 2 provides some evidence for this theory.

Terrifier 2’s Few Mainstream Reviews Look Bad For Terrifier 3

Variety bemoaned terrifier 2’s features not its bugs.

In his thoughtful Variety review of Terrifier 2 , Owen Gleiberman questioned the purpose of the franchise’s extreme, graphic carnage. Gleiberman situated Terrifier 2 in the tradition of Herschel Gordon Lewis’ early splatter films and the “ Scuzzy ” grindhouse milieu of the ‘70s, but criticized the validity of gory shock value for its own sake. Per the critic, “ Terrifier 2 puts sadism front and center ” without even the pretence of providing more than this. While this is a valid observation, it points out a feature of the movies, not a bug. Terrifier 2 , and its predecessor, are conscious exercises in depravity.

Terrifier 2 's 86% RottenTomatoes rating represented a 29% jump up from Terrifier 's 57% rating.

Although Terrifier 3 might be 2024’s scariest movie , it is unlikely that mainstream critics will give Art the Clown his flowers any time soon. No matter how accomplished David Howard Thornton’s performance as the villain is or how much Leone’s directorial skill has improved since the last outing, it is the nature of the Terrifier franchise’s specific contours that put off many reviewers. Simply put, a lot of critics can’t stomach the thought of recommendig any of the Terrifier movies, regardless of their technical merit, so Terrifier 3 managing to replicate Terrifier 2 ’s success seems vanishingly unlikely.

Sources: Variety

BoxOfficeMojo

RottenTomatoes

Terrifier 3