Solstice Studios
Movies are back in theaters! The last time I saw a movie in theaters was Pixar’s Onward back in March before theaters were shut down. Most theaters in Washington State aren’t open yet, but one lone Regal theater 35 minutes from me opened with classic films like Inception and The Empire Strikes Back filling in the gaps of absent movies. There weren’t many new films for the theater chain to offer but one that I was looking forward to for some time finally was released and that was Unhinged.
Have you ever had a bad day? Russell Crowe’s character Tom has. In his newest film, he has had the worst day, and nothing will make him happy. After being honked at while sitting at a green light, he vows to make the woman who honked at him have the worst day possible. I promise you … it was a horrible day for her.
Movies like this entertain me. It is a simple film with a quickly paced plot. Once we get past the set up of the two main characters, Rachel (Caren Pistorius) and Tom (Russell Crowe), the film becomes a thrill a minute ride. In the beginning of the film we learn that Rachel is late to everything. She oversleeps, drives a crappy old car, and is unreliable when it comes to her job. Those moments don’t take too long, which is simply fine for me because all I wanted to see was Russell Crowe ram into cars for 90 minutes.
Russell Crowe is perfect in the movie. This isn’t an Oscar performance by any means, but damn does he have fun with this role. Any time he speaks or looks at someone, it is downright disturbing. He perfectly captures what it feels like to have a bad day. Not to be overlooked is Caren Pistorius. She perfectly plays how a mother would react in a situation that would put their child at risk. The tension amongst the two builds throughout the movie and it leads to a crazy ending.
For a film with a smaller budget compared to most films, and coming from a company that doesn’t put out too many films, the directing was impressive. Many cars were destroyed in Unhinged, mostly due to Russell Crowe driving through them. Cameras were used in the back seats of cars, on the dashboard, and attached to other cars and it captured the intensity of every scene. I was also surprised with the amount of violence in the film. I hadn’t seen a trailer before seeing the movie and all I knew about it was that Russell Crowe had road rage. Since he will stop at nothing to make sure that Rachel has a bad day, it likes his character unpredictable and that leads to a lot of violent sequences in the movie. He doesn’t care what happens to him. He doesn’t even care if he dies. With this mindset, there are a lot of possibilities to what can happen to Rachel throughout the day.
This was just the right movie I needed when I headed back to the theater. It was simple and entertaining. I felt like a haven’t seen Russell Crowe do something in a while. The last movie I saw with him in theaters was The Mummy in 2017 and that wasn’t particularly good. I will admit that I am looking forward to the big movies coming soon like New Mutants and Tenet, but for right now this will do.
Unhinged has a run time of 1 hour 30 minutes and is rated R for strong violent content, and language throughout.
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