7 Ups & 4 Downs From Russell Crowe's Unhinged
A cerebral, tense thriller with the worst police department ever.
It's difficult to know what Hollywood was thinking by releasing Russell Crowe's latest flick when they did.
Maybe Unhinged was a test subject for cinema post-lockdown because Ingenious Media and Solstice Studios knew they had a winner. Or, perhaps everyone agreed that the movie was throwaway but might thrive because people were desperate for things to do. Admittedly, the latter is the sole reason this writer ended up going to see the film.
The words "pleasant surprise" fit here. Unhinged doesn't mess around with pesky exposition or lengthy intros for any of its main characters. Instead, director Derrick Borte gets straight down to business and flexes his muscles by melding splashes of other tense thrillers like Taken with elements of Die Hard With A Vengeance.
Crowe deserves credit for his part in ramping up the intensity, but he's supported well by Caren Pistorius, who plays a loving (if flawed) mother, and 15-year old budding horror star Gabriel Bateman. The result is a fast-paced watch that's only let down by a lack of attention to incidental details.
Please note: This article includes significant plot spoilers. That might be obvious given it's a review, but be warned that everything, including Unhinged's ending, will be discussed within.