Louie Zamperini (Jack O’Connell) was an Olympic runner who survived in a raft for 47 days after his plane crashed, then endured 2 years in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. Through it all, he remained determined to survive. It’s important to feel the desperation and suffering in a movie like this, but director Angelina Jolie has taken it to painful extremes, presenting scene after scene of mistreatment. It’s effective, but went on way too long. Ultimately, it’s about a man’s stamina faced with overwhelming odds, but the film lacks the emotional power that would have made the suffering worth it.

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