Russell Crowe makes everything look cool, including riding around in a Vespa in a priest outfit, as seen in the immensely enjoyable (and funny!) “The Pope’s Exorcist.” Before exorcising demons on the big screen, Crowe embraced the aura of a vengeful killer in the 2020 action thriller “Unhinged,” where he is more than happy to indulge in some violent road rage and set people’s houses on fire. Turns out, Derrick Borte’s “Unhinged” is making some big waves on Netflix’s U.S. streaming charts, where the Crowe-starrer is currently occupying the #2 spot on the Top 10 Movies chart this week (via FlixPatrol). The premise and tone are as pulpy as they get, but Crowe emerges as a highly entertaining villain whose shenanigans live up to the title of Borte’s film.
The screenplay for “Unhinged” was written by Carl Ellsworth of “Red Eye” fame, but Crowe previously told Screen Rant that it was partially inspired by Steven Spielberg’s “Duel,” the 1971 road action-thriller that would go on to become a cult classic:
“That [‘Duel’] was definitely one of the influences of the film. People ask me about how we based the character, and the director and I talked about him in terms of the shark from ‘Jaws.’ The character’s already triggered before the movie starts, and he’s just gonna go about operating the way his instinct to catch his prey is making him operate … It’s that same thing that the shark does. The shark has its own reasons, and it’s just doing what it does naturally. And that’s what this guy is.”
Well, if you want to tune in to a road rage thriller in which the unhinged protagonist is similar to a killer shark, let’s examine the film’s premise to try to understand its sudden resurgence on the streaming service.
Russell Crowe’s Unhinged promises a perfectly thrilling ride
Warning: minor spoilers for “Unhinged” to follow.
“Unhinged” opens with a troubling incident that tints our understanding of Tom Cooper (Crowe), who engages in some really shady business with a lit matchstick and a bottle of hydrocodone. Cut to hair stylist Rachel Flynn (Caren Pistorius), who is having the worst day of her life while being stuck during rush hour traffic as she drives her son Kyle to school. Rachel is already late for work, and what’s worse, a client fires her abruptly over the phone before she can explain herself. This is when her vehicle is blocked by a pickup truck at a green light. No prizes for guessing who the pickup truck driver is: yes, it is the unpredictable Tom, who initially demands an apology and promises to leave her alone. However, when Rachel refuses, he vows to show her what having a bad day really entails. Thus, the horrors begin.
As you can probably guess, this is not the only instance where Rachel runs into Tom, as the latter makes it a point to remind her of the cost of angering the wrong guy when everything could have easily been resolved with an apology. The premise feels extremely petty, and that is the point: there is no method to Tom’s madness, as he does anything he pleases, and knows that he will, most likely, get away with it. Crowe is terrifying in the way he carries himself and surveys the world around him, his gaze teeming with disdain and a sense of entitlement that leads people down genuinely dark paths. It is possible that talking about the film might feel more interesting than actually experiencing it, but that is exactly why it is such a fun, thrilling one-time watch, minus any shoe-horned philosophizing or delusions of grandeur about its core message.
Every dumb, over-the-top scene in “Unhinged” only serves to underline that its purpose is to wreak havoc on the screen and take audiences for a short, bumpy ride, filled with tense road rage encounters and some really ominous axe-hacking montages that Crowe expertly injects with kinetic thrill. Good stuff.
“Unhinged” is currently streaming on Netflix.
What are your thoughts on “Unhinged”? Let us know in the comments!
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