If you take nothing else from the revenge tale called ‘Unhinged’, you’ll think twice before honking at the next putz who frustrates you in traffic..
The first studio film to hit theaters in months, ‘Unhinged’ isn’t a masterpiece – but it’s the kind of thrill ride that just plays better on the big screen than it would at home. You can easily predict most of the moves in this film, from both the antagonist AND victim, long before they happen…but in an odd kind of way, that makes it all the more enjoyable.
The synopsis; a man (Russell Crowe) who is down on his luck to say the very least, snaps at the insensitive nature of a fellow motorist (Caren Pistorius)….his truck delays at a green light, she’s already late getting her son to school, so she lays on the horn, gives a gesture, you know the deal…..and subsequently does everything he can to make her life a living hell.
Annnnnd…..yeah, that’s pretty much it. Again, not brilliant, but the ‘Citizen Kane’ of road rage, to be sure.
Oh, there are moments here that would fool you into thinking ‘Unhinged’ is top shelf material. But really, it’s seriously B-grade stuff, a mixed salad of guilty pleasures like ‘Joyride’, ‘Duel’, ‘Falling Down’, etc. What DOES elevate its quality significantly is the performance of Crowe, who hasn’t played a seriously bad guy since 1995’s ‘Virtuosity’ (sure, he was Javert in 2012’s ‘Les Miserables’, but villains lose a little jam when they sing..), and he brings the chilling goods. His short fuse plunge into madness makes for a truly disturbing first act in ‘Unhinged’ – he’s remorseless and absolutely nuts, very bad bed fellows.
But at about the halfway point, writer Carl Ellsworth (‘Disturbia’, ‘Red Eye’) – which I suppose is true to his style – amps up the speed and tension of his story, turning Crowe’s character into an unstoppable killing machine whose ability to elude the law becomes increasingly ludicrous. And again, the silliness probably puts a leash on ‘Unhinged’ ever being anything more than a good dose of “Boo!” adrenaline – but darn, was it good to go out to the movies again!
