Unbroken: Path to Redemption

It sounds so simple. And in Unbroken: Path to Redemption, it's portrayed exactly that way. You don't need a whole movie for that kind of experience. All you have to do is read the title.

Unnecessarily prolonged, and a fussy addition to a film about Zamperini that already exists.

Worthwhile religious movies explore the implications and the lived experience of faith or perhaps illuminate the reality of life without it. Path to Redemption has no interest in the first and isn't up to the second.

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.

There is a happy ending to the story - but, unfortunately, it doesn't arrive nearly soon enough.

Might stand as Cronk's least loathsome cinematic venture yet. It no doubt helps that he didn't write it.

It has some pacing problems... but I still thought it was pretty moving.

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.

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.

Glowing with effort above its pedigree, the film is an earnest and very commendable exploration.