[3] O'Connell and other principal cast members were in their late-20s and early-30s while filming, which Desplat said "These are heroes in their early twenties and it makes it very special to focus on their youth, risking so much peril, and Jack is in every shot.

The track was further included on the Japanese edition of the band's seventh studio album A Head Full of Dreams (2015).

[8][9] Callum Hofler of Entertainment Junkie stated, "At its finest, Unbroken is perhaps Desplat's strongest and most resonant emotional work since The Tree of Life or Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, both from 2011.

"[12] Timothy Monger of AllMusic stated: "The increasingly in-demand Desplat also scored the WWII caper The Monuments Men earlier in the year, but the tone he adopts for Unbroken is far different, relying heavily on warm, sentimental themes to accompany Zamperini's inspirational story.

Playing back and forth between airy, atmospheric pieces and massive, theatrical swells, he uses far more light than darkness here and the result is a very melodic and motivational score.

"[13] Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post called Desplat's score "effective, yet vaguely mushy" as it "sounds like the button-pushing aural backdrop to any number of other poignant period films".

[14] Jeff Baker of The Oregonian and Colin Covert of Detroit Free Press called the score as "rousing" and "stunning".

[17] Michael Phillips of Chicago Tribune commented: "Composer Alexandre Desplat's orchestral flourishes have a way of distancing and falsifying Zamperini's ordeal.

When Mac (Finn Wittrock) receives his burial at sea, it's strange to be thinking about other matters, such as how much more effective the scene might be without mood music behind it.