There are times when Jolie delivers impressively, not least in an early
aerial combat scene and the section where Zamperini and his fellow airmen (played by Domhnall Gleeson and Finn Whitrock) are adrift on the ocean, fending off sharks and eating seabirds to survive.
Not exact matches
Brilliantly handled though the
aerial scenes may be, they are matched by the Earthbound
combat sequences, including the now - famous shot of a long trench caving in on hundreds of unfortunate doughboys.
Counting Kathryn Bigelow among its executive producers (this restates the unacknowledged torture - creates - chaos themes of Zero Dark Thirty), Cartel Land is overtly dramatic fare that boasts both nerve - racking, ground - level
combat scenes and elegiac
aerial footage of the no - man's - land around the US / Mexico border.