When the war ended, his battle began. Based on Laura Hillenbrand's bestselling book, UNBROKEN: PATH TO REDEMPTION begins where Unbroken ends, sharing the next amazing chapter of Olympian and World War II hero Louis Zamperini's powerful true story of forgiveness, redemption, and amazing grace.
There is never any evidence on display here that director Harold Cronk has any interest about any aspect of Zamperini's life except for his religious conversion and as a result, the film is little more than a listless melodrama.
It is unfortunate that instead of exploring the universal challenges and complexities of forgiveness it stays within the safer confines of preaching salvation to those who have already been persuaded.
For the most part... the script hews to the typical dramatic contours of a marriage troubled by unemployment, unresolved anger, and alcoholism-pro forma stuff, too blandly treated to inspire much more than indifference.
There's a reason that Angelina Jolie's screen adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand's best-selling Unbroken left out most of the material covered in the book's second half. It just isn't very interesting.
All the dramatic cues are there, and many of the faces convey an eagerness that is admirable, but every simpering scene of false sincerity moves to the rhythm of some shallow after-school special.
