Movie Review: “Unhinged” isn’t nearly as strong as the films it borrows from

MOVIE REVIEW: UNHINGED (R)

“Unhinged” is certainly a film that lives up to its title but does that make it a good movie? Not necessarily. “Unhinged” is in the tradition of much better movies like “Falling Down,” “Breakdown,” “Duel,” “Joy Ride,” “Changing Lanes” and every 90s sociopath thriller you can shake a stick at (see “Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” “Pacific Heights,”  and “Unlawful Entry” just to name a few.) Even with a creepy, on edge Russell Crowe in the lead, the film can’t quite rise to the occasion.

In “Unhinged,” single mom Rachel (Caren Pistorius) is having a really bad day. Unfortunately, that bad day goes from awful to downright terrifying after she messes with the wrong commuter. While frantically trying to get her young son, Kyle (Gabriel Bateman), to school, a truck sitting stationary at a green light prompts an impatient and emotionally distraught Rachel to honk before angrily blazing passed the vehicle. Turns out that the stationary commuter in question is an unhinged individual (Crowe) with violent tendencies who just so happens to be having a day far worse than Rachel’s. As it turns out, this nut job just had a most intense altercation with his ex-wife the night before.  What follows is a deadly game in which a demented Crowe attempts to destroy Rachel’s life by getting to the folks she cares about.

“Unhinged” opens with a series of real-life road rage-inspired video clips that go out of their way to suggest that there are a lot of unstable people out there and that perhaps the rest of us should think twice before honking at a radome commuter. Beyond that, though, this is a mean-spirited and nihilistic bit of nastiness that, when it’s not being completely ridiculous and over the top, paints a cynical and brutal look at the world. To that end, the biggest problem with the would-be cautionary tale that is “Unhinged” is that it isn’t particularly fun. It’s just ugly.

It’s hard to figure out why Crowe even took this part. It isn’t a role of any sort of real depth and while the “Gladiator” star certainly brings an aggressive intensity to this movie there’s nothing all that interesting about this character. Granted, a lot of that falls squarely in the lap of screenwriter Carl Ellsworth. He and director Derrick Borte don’t appear to be all that interested in truly exploring what makes this guy tick. A shame because the opening of the film hints that maybe the movie might delve a bit into themes of mental health in some meaningful way, and with an actor of Crowe’s range in the lead, that could have made for a compelling movie. Alas, “Unhinged” isn’t interested in such lofty goals. Instead, this is more of a violent, surface-level thriller in which we get to witness this Oscar-winning actor running people over with his vehicle, lighting folks on fire, and punching women and children in the face. Like I said…Ugly.

“Unhinged” moves at a pretty quick clip (despite some pretty sloppy editing) and there are a couple of chilling scenes to speak of, including an exchange between Crowe and an attorney in a diner, but oddly enough, the film is still rather routine (and dull) in terms of plot and I never really found myself invested. Even Pistorious is unable to rise above the proceedings and make for a dynamic mama bear heroine. The strongest performance in the film comes courtesy of an effective Bateman as a young boy who learns the hard way that you shouldn’t honk at people you don’t know.