![]() ![]() While Tenet was viewed as a bellwether for an entire mode of popular entertainment, a quasi-event that earned endorsements from cultural figures like Tom Cruise and Travis Scott, Unhinged was largely ignored-meaning Americans missed out on the dampest movie of the year. In the film, Crowe plays "The Man," a divorced guy with three distinct passions: terrorizing other drivers on the road in his big truck, popping pills in the car, and sweating through his button-down. Around the time of Tenet's publicly chaotic release, another movie-a less prestigious and less time-travel-y thriller called Unhinged-also revved into theaters across the country, tempting moviegoers to sit socially distanced in an auditorium for 80 minutes and watch a bearded Russell Crowe do car crimes. It was probably a good idea to keep a sense of mystery about the Crowe character, much like Spielberg’s decision never to let us see or hear the truck driver who raged against a motorist in “Duel.” Crowe is fine at being menacing for no apparent reason, and his lingering star power helped “Unhinged” become the first wide-release movie in theaters since March, but the “Gladiator” Oscar winner is not given much to do in a role that “Duel” already demonstrated could be played by two forearms on a steering wheel.On December 15, Christopher Nolan's Tenet, the semi-elusive action blockbuster of 2020, will finally arrive on VOD after debuting in theaters back in September. So are the methods by which the killer dispatches his victims, which are as baroque and bloody as any “Final Destination” death. ![]() But most of us are probably aware that we’ve been in situations where we were fortunate to stay safe, which is why the feeling that the “Unhinged” scenario is possible, if unlikely, is compelling. Most of us will never encounter a road rageaholic like Crowe, who announces that he expects his life to end in death-by-cop. Those real-life elements give “Unhinged” an it-could-actually-happen fascination. We’ve all made vehicular maneuvers we shouldn’t have because we were late for something that seemed, in the moment, to be important. We’ve all let our phones run out of juice. Late for work and her son’s school drop-off, the Louisiana single mom angrily passes another driver (Crowe), who has just finished hammer-murdering what seems to be his entire family and who resolves to add Rachel and her son to the body count. It’s not a particularly good or original film - “Changing Lanes” and Steven Spielberg’s classic “Duel” are among the movies that already slid their dipsticks in this engine - but “Unhinged” gets some oomph from the paranoid reality of the situation that heroine Rachel (Caren Pistorius) finds herself in. ![]() ![]() At one point he offers a fake one, but the only thing we know for sure is he’s intent on slaughtering as many strangers as he can from behind the wheel of his pickup. Unlike those maniacs, he doesn’t even get a name. Crowe plays a version of those anonymous killers in slasher films, a Jason or a Michael Myers, minus the mask and back story. It’s a weird part for a guy who, not many years ago, was winning awards and headlining blockbusters. There’s a new movie called “Unhinged.” Russell Crowe plays the title role. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |