Unbroken (2014)

  I have been falling off my regular posting schedule and I wish I knew why.  It's not like I've stopped watching stuff; I just don't feel like writing.  Maybe scheduling these to post while I'm on my trip to Boston (hey, I'm going to Boston) will motivate me to be more on the ball in the future.

Louis Zamperini (Jack O'Connell) is an Olympic athlete when he's called up for the draft in WWII.  His plane crashes over the Pacific Ocean and only Zamp, pilot Phil (Domhnall Gleeson), and gunner Mac (Finn Wittrock) make it to the life raft.  They drift for weeks and are finally "rescued" by a Japanese ship.  Zamp is separated from his colleagues and sent to a POW camp outside of Tokyo run by the despotic Watanabe (Miyavi).  He tries to maintain his sense of hope with the other prisoners as they wait for the war to end.  

This is based on the real life of Louis Zamperini, who did compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, was a bombardier, and POW.  I wish I could say I liked it.  The guy himself was probably really fascinating but the movie is a Thomas Kincaid paint-by-numbers.  It's also fairly Jesus-y which was a big part of Zamperini's recovery and treatment for PTSD, as I understand.  There is a sequel that deals specifically with that part of his life, if you are interested.  I was not.

It's currently streaming on HBO Max.