UNHINGED
***
Director: Derrick Borte
Screenwriter: Carl Ellsworth
Principal cast:
Russell Crowe
Caren Pistorius
Jimmi Simpson
Gabriel Bateman
Austin P. McKenzie
Lucy Faust
Country: USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 90 mins.
Australian release date: 30 July 2020.
Derrick Borte’s Unhinged is being touted as the first major pop-corn release since ‘the lockdown’. In an opening montage of graphic phone and dash-cam footage of scenes of road rage, people freaking out and real-life mayhem (accompanied by a vocal track made up almost entirely of voices saying “Oh my God!”), Borte immediately sets you up for what is to come in his film about a man pushed to the edge. This is a movie about STRESS in capital letters, how people handle it and what can happen when they can’t. It’s the story of a man who, having lost everything, decides he has nothing left to lose.
After a terrifyingly opening crime committed by ‘the man’ (Russell Crowe), the scene switches as we watch a woman, Rachel (NZ actress Caren Pistorius), waking up and realising that she has overslept, is late for an important appointment and her son, Kyle (Gabriel Bateman), is going to be late for his strict school. Stuck in peak-hour traffic, she is behind a big utility vehicle when the lights turn green and it doesn’t move. In her frustration, Rachel slams her hand on the horn and takes off, swerving around the stationary vehicle. At the next traffic snarl, the truck pulls up alongside her and ‘the man’ behind the wheel berates her and demands an apology. He’s aggrieved that she didn’t give her car horn a “courtesy tap” and complains that her honk was overly aggressive. When Rachel refuses to apologise he becomes enraged, telling her that “I don’t think you really know what a bad day is, but you’re about to find out!” From then on, a game of cat-and-mouse ensues, as ‘the man’ hunts Rachel and anyone she’s close to through the streets and suburbs of New Orleans.
Unhinged is an observation of an angry white man who blames women for all his problems and who lashes out at a random one who fails to do his bidding. Unfortunately for her, she comes to represent all the others who have let him down. Naturally, men like him never look to their own actions for the cause of their disappointments and Crowe does a brilliant job of revealing this man to us. The actor appears to have bulked out for this role (or it’s excellent use of a fat-suit and make-up) because the man’s hulking mass is a formidable part of his malevolence. And he is extremely malevolent, exhibiting a precise passive/aggressive persona that becomes increasingly, well, unhinged. Crowe has said, that, when he first read Carl Ellsworth’s screenplay, his response was, “Absolutely not. I'm not doing this movie, it scares the shit out of me, this character is intensely dark... and when I heard that come out of my mouth, I was like, since when did I stop doing that? Cause that's basically what I look for. I look for the challenges.” He has certainly risen to the challenge - the close-ups on his face in the cab of his truck are as terrifying as any of the more overt scenes of violence. Pistorius proves she can handle a leading role and is highly impressive as a woman caught up in a nightmarish situation who realises she must become a warrior if she is going to save herself and her son.
Although Ellsworth’s is not a perfect script and at times leaves you incredulous (there is a moment when you feel like screaming at Rachel to call the cops), the action still keeps you on the edge of your seat and doesn’t let up. Unhinged illustrates just how, these days, “People have so much coming at them, they can’t handle it,” which is a sobering indictment of today’s society. It will definitely make you reconsider thrusting two fingers in the air or hurling abuse at the next person who does you wrong on the road. After seeing this film, it’s probably wiser just to ‘keep calm and carry on.’
Screenwriter: Carl Ellsworth
Principal cast:
Russell Crowe
Caren Pistorius
Jimmi Simpson
Gabriel Bateman
Austin P. McKenzie
Lucy Faust
Country: USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 90 mins.
Australian release date: 30 July 2020.
Derrick Borte’s Unhinged is being touted as the first major pop-corn release since ‘the lockdown’. In an opening montage of graphic phone and dash-cam footage of scenes of road rage, people freaking out and real-life mayhem (accompanied by a vocal track made up almost entirely of voices saying “Oh my God!”), Borte immediately sets you up for what is to come in his film about a man pushed to the edge. This is a movie about STRESS in capital letters, how people handle it and what can happen when they can’t. It’s the story of a man who, having lost everything, decides he has nothing left to lose.
After a terrifyingly opening crime committed by ‘the man’ (Russell Crowe), the scene switches as we watch a woman, Rachel (NZ actress Caren Pistorius), waking up and realising that she has overslept, is late for an important appointment and her son, Kyle (Gabriel Bateman), is going to be late for his strict school. Stuck in peak-hour traffic, she is behind a big utility vehicle when the lights turn green and it doesn’t move. In her frustration, Rachel slams her hand on the horn and takes off, swerving around the stationary vehicle. At the next traffic snarl, the truck pulls up alongside her and ‘the man’ behind the wheel berates her and demands an apology. He’s aggrieved that she didn’t give her car horn a “courtesy tap” and complains that her honk was overly aggressive. When Rachel refuses to apologise he becomes enraged, telling her that “I don’t think you really know what a bad day is, but you’re about to find out!” From then on, a game of cat-and-mouse ensues, as ‘the man’ hunts Rachel and anyone she’s close to through the streets and suburbs of New Orleans.
Unhinged is an observation of an angry white man who blames women for all his problems and who lashes out at a random one who fails to do his bidding. Unfortunately for her, she comes to represent all the others who have let him down. Naturally, men like him never look to their own actions for the cause of their disappointments and Crowe does a brilliant job of revealing this man to us. The actor appears to have bulked out for this role (or it’s excellent use of a fat-suit and make-up) because the man’s hulking mass is a formidable part of his malevolence. And he is extremely malevolent, exhibiting a precise passive/aggressive persona that becomes increasingly, well, unhinged. Crowe has said, that, when he first read Carl Ellsworth’s screenplay, his response was, “Absolutely not. I'm not doing this movie, it scares the shit out of me, this character is intensely dark... and when I heard that come out of my mouth, I was like, since when did I stop doing that? Cause that's basically what I look for. I look for the challenges.” He has certainly risen to the challenge - the close-ups on his face in the cab of his truck are as terrifying as any of the more overt scenes of violence. Pistorius proves she can handle a leading role and is highly impressive as a woman caught up in a nightmarish situation who realises she must become a warrior if she is going to save herself and her son.
Although Ellsworth’s is not a perfect script and at times leaves you incredulous (there is a moment when you feel like screaming at Rachel to call the cops), the action still keeps you on the edge of your seat and doesn’t let up. Unhinged illustrates just how, these days, “People have so much coming at them, they can’t handle it,” which is a sobering indictment of today’s society. It will definitely make you reconsider thrusting two fingers in the air or hurling abuse at the next person who does you wrong on the road. After seeing this film, it’s probably wiser just to ‘keep calm and carry on.’
