'Unhinged'
R 1:30 H 1/2 HH
With major cinema chains finally reopening after their five-month closure due to the coronavirus, the grim and gruesome thriller "Unhinged" is barreling into theaters to claim the title of first wide release in the post-pandemic era.
"Unhinged" works better as the future answer to a trivia question or a cynically bloodsoaked riff on the ubiquitous meme "Be kind because everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about" than it does as a quality film.
Oscar winner Russell Crowe stars as "The Man," a pill-popping, bitterly divorced brute who is essentially toxic masculinity personified. He commits savage murder before the opening credits have even rolled.
A few hours later, he crosses paths on the jam-packed highways of Anywhere, USA, with overwhelmed single mom Rachel (Caren Pistorius), who is failing to get her understanding son Kyle (Gabriel Bateman) to school on time.
Rachel's life is packed with a grab-bag of modern-day problems: She's getting a divorce from her deadbeat husband, she recently lost her salon so she's gigging it as a freelance stylist, her mother has just been moved into a pricey memory care center, and her slacker younger brother Fred (Austin P. McKenzie) and his girlfriend Mary (Juliene Joyner) are living with her rentfree. So, when Rachel gets stuck behind a brawny pickup that refuses to budge at a green light, she gives two, long frustrated blasts of her horn and then irritably zips around it.
That truck is being driven by "The Man," who at the next intersection lectures Rachel and her son on the art of the courtesy tap, demands an apology and, when she refuses, promises "I don't think you know what a bad day is, but you'll find out."
He proceeds to mete out sadistic retribution for Rachel's perceived slight with a series of threatening phone calls, bruising high-speed car chases and vicious murders committed in broad daylight.
"Unhinged" does manage to build tension in its set pieces, but the outcomes are consistently so obvious and ugly that there's nothing thrilling about them. It doesn't help that the dialogue, shooting style and score all signal every plot point miles before it arrives.
Written by Carl Ellsworth ("Disturbia") and directed by Derrick Borte ("London Town"), the film's frenetic opening credits cite a litany of societal ills — information overload, road rage, incivility — seemingly to make the case that the movie's "Unhinged" scenario can be the extreme result. It's a pessimistic and unconvincing case, especially since their ham-fisted film attempts to justify The Man's "Maxiumum Overdrive" reaction to Rachel's petulant horn usage.
Beefy and glowering, Crowe eagerly chews scenery as The Man, fueling the film on his intensity, and to her credit, Pistorius holds her own.
But the best part about "Unhinged" is the fun, foulmouthed promo Crowe created in which he channels cheeky wit into his creepy character. It shows that "Unhinged" might have been souped up with some dark comedy, but its makers have taken the road of a much less satisfying film.