Where Unhinged shines is the absolutely insane antics of Crowe’s character.
Rachel (Caren Pistorius) is having a terrible day. She overslept, her son is late for school, and her soon-to-be-ex-husband has just informed her that he’s going to fight her for their house. It’s about to get a lot worse.
Trying to get her son to school, Rachel pulls up behind a man (Russell Crowe) at a stop light. The light turns green, but the man’s truck doesn’t move. Rachel, made impatient by the day’s events, lays on the horn with a long blast. Still, the truck remains stationary. So, Rachel pulls around him, making eye contact. Enraged, the man speeds off after her, catches up, and begins to follow her. So begins Unhinged, a suspense-filled 90 minute action thriller directed by Derrick Borte.
Unhinged is one of those skip-the-details, get-to-the-action thrillers. Borte doles out the bare minimum of exposition and cuts to the chase. Literally. While this can be problematic for those viewers looking to understand what drives the man (who goes unnamed aside from a possible alias for the entire movie,) it’s best to remember that this is not a deep movie. Its focus is on finding ways for the man to torment Rachel and ratchet up the suspense at every possibility. That’s really it.
Crowe, who gained a substantial amount of weight for the role, looks like an angry John Goodman. His performance is gleefully off-the-rails as his character hunts down Rachel. The character he plays is obviously the reason for the title of the film. The man is cold and cunning — definitely not a blindly raging buffoon. That’s what made me wish that we knew more about him than the script lets us know. We’re given hints in the movie’s prologue about what has pushed him to the brink of sanity but not about what makes his mind work.
Caren Pistorius does her best with the weak characterization of Rachel. She’s irresponsible but still relatable. It takes her character a painfully long time to understand that she’s dealing with a true nut job, though. But she has great chemistry with Gabriel Bateman, who plays her son, Kyle. Their scenes feel genuine.
Where Unhinged shines is the absolutely insane antics of Crowe’s character. His unpredictable nature is what gives the film its energy. Sadly, though, in today’s world, I wouldn’t be surprised if some people found his character to be the sympathetic one rather than Rachel.
After watching the movie, I thought of 2003’s Phone Booth, with its hectic camera angles, fast-paced action, and rather implausible string-of-events. Unhinged follows that same pattern. It’s definitely a fun ride but will probably crumble under the weight of too much reflection.
3.5 out of 5.0 stars
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