‘Unhinged’ Review

Road rage is definitely a real issue. Some can hold it back, while others lose control. It makes for a good concept for a thriller: someone who doesn’t know how to control their rage and goes after the drivers who incurred their wrath. In Unhinged, Russell Crowe stars in a road rage nightmare scenario. The concept is entertaining enough, but the film fails to fully make this situation believable and thus suffers.

Plot

Crowe plays a man who is just fed up with everything. He feels betrayed by the world and is taking his vengeance by going on a path of violence. Caren Pistorious plays a woman who doesn’t quite have her life together. She is a single mother who is juggling jobs and struggling to make ends meet. 

She is also frustrated with having to deal with constant traffic. On her commute, she takes her frustrations on a car, honking repeatedly at it. It turns out to be Crowe, who then chases her down demanding an apology. She doesn’t and so starts the movie where Crowe vows to make her life a nightmare now.

Crazy and in your face

Unhinged isn’t subtle with its messaging. It begins with a montage of newsreels, discussing increases in traffic & road rage crimes. The tagline for the movie is “He can happen to anyone,” solidifying this idea that road rage is real and you need to be cautious about who you mess with on the road. It’s a bit excessive as the audience is well aware of the dangers of road rage.

The film delivers strongly on the Crowe psychopath premise. Crowe is completely chewing the scenery as an insane man with nothing to lose. What makes his character interesting is he has no fear of being arrested or even killed by the police. He commits violent acts in broad daylight as he has had enough of everything. Pistorious gives a good performance as well, however, her character is frustrating as she is constantly making bad decisions.

Where Unhinged suffers is mostly in its logic. So much has to conveniently happen in order for Crowe’s character to get away with stuff. Characters will often make the wrong decision & the script takes out certain plot devices that would end the movie rather quickly. It started to get to a point where what was happening stopped being believable.

The action is shot ok as well. The car chases are competently shot, but each character has beast mode activated as the biggest hits don’t take them out. They all get up easily in order for the plot to advance. It’s pretty violent as well, with some gory moments. Director Derrick Borte does have an eye for building suspense and keeping the audience’s attention.

Insane, but entertaining 

The pace of the movie is good as well. Clocking in at about 90 minutes, the movie moves quickly and never takes a break, keeping you entertained for its duration. It establishes its characters and cuts to the chase (literally) very quickly.

There are moments of unintentional hilariousness. Unhinged takes itself very seriously, so when it gets too ridiculous, it often feels misplaced with the tone. Crowe’s performance is so over-the-top that it can come off as goofy. The final one-liner is awesome, but also incredibly corny and sounds like it’s from an 80s action movie.

Final score

Unhinged is a movie you can perfectly enjoy for 90 minutes, turn off, and then immediately forget about it. It’s not doing anything other than trying to hold your attention for the duration. It’s deeply flawed, with plenty of plot holes & character decisions that don’t make any sense. However, a crazy performance from Crowe may be enough to win you over.

Final score: 2.5/5