Think Twice Before Beeping That Horn!!!
Unhinged (2020) tells the story of a deranged driver who stalks a woman and her son after she sparks road rage between them both at an intersection and creates a hide-and-seek chase between them both.
Written By Carl Ellsworth and Directed By Derrick Borte, the film was your typical cat and mouse type scenario with a few added surprises here and there but isn't going to redefine the genre in the near future. Lets dive into my thoughts on this movie.
The Film
Going into this movie I knew nothing about it other than the very small write up my local Odeon cinema had about it, i'd seen no trailers and if I am being totally honest I didn't even know it had been made until the listing came up for it. This was my first time being back at the cinema since the cinemas have re-opened in the UK since lockdown so felt nice being able to go back and settle down for the one hour and thirty three minute runtime and honestly it wasn't a totally bad film to come back to the cinema on.
The film had a bit of a slow start and the first thirty mins is setting up the characters and giving us a taste of whats to come from the remaining hour. Once it finds it rhythm however its actually not too bad, sure its the type of film you'd chuck on and snuggle upto a loved one before going to sleep with and keeping your heart rate up just that little bit, but its one of the better cat and mouse type films out there.
There was some really impressive camera work involved and some shots were angled to make you feel uncomfortable and put you on edge as if something was going to happen. Examples of this would be low angles looking up at our characters and the typical "side view of the driver and being able to see out of the drivers window as they drive along" angle, you know the one I am on about as there's many examples out there. Before you know it you're being chased by Russell Crowe's character simply titled "The Man" (I know, a really creative name), and being flung around in the car at high speeds trying to get away from his grasps.
The Cast
The movie has some very familiar faces as well as some lesser known stars too. Leading the movie is no other than Russell Crowe (The Nice Guys, Gladiator), who plays The Man. Playing our Rachel (Mother) and Kyle (Son) who get stalked by "The Man" is Caren Pistorius (Mortal Engines, Gloria Bell) and Gabriel Bateman (Childs Play, Lights Out). Other characters include Rachels friend Andy, who is played Jimmi Simpson (Zodiac, White House Down) and playing Rachels brother Fred is Austin P. McKenzie (In The Time It Takes To Get There, When We Rise).
Its quite obvious who stood out for me in this movie and that is of course Russell Crowe as I am absolutely certain he may have been the perfect casting to play a deranged psychopath as he legitimately was believable and did scare me just a bit. Maybe we could get more of this type of character from Crowe in the future?
I must say however I’m slowly becoming a fan of Gabriel Bateman as I’ve seen a few of his films now and I think he could be a really big star in the horror/thriller genre and again he was rather good in this. Not his best performance as I’ve seen him in better but the skills he has picked up on from past movies he utilises well in this film.
To Conclude
Unhinged (2020) brings a formula thats all too common now but is one of the more stronger of the bunch with a worthy performance from Russell Crowe. Sprinkle the well written script and you have yourself the perfect Sunday thriller that the whole (almost) family can sit and enjoy.
Unhinged (2020) is out now in UK cinemas and releases August 21st in America.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5