PLOT: A recently divorced and jobless woman named Rachel (Caren Pistorius) gets stuck behind a pickup truck that’s stopped at a green light. Forgetting the rules of the road, she forgoes a courtesy tap and lays on the horn only to piss off the driver at hand. Oh, and that driver happens to be a murderous Russell Crowe with nothing to lose.
LOWDOWN: UNHINGED is the type of movie from a bygone era. A simple, effective, and slightly absurd thriller that fully embraces its schlocky and retro roots. It invests in and props up its wild and crazy antagonist without the need to ground him in any real-world sense (aka the anti-hero syndrome). In short, this owes a lot to those ’80s and ’90s genre gems like THE HITCHER, BREAKDOWN, and even THE ROAD WARRIOR.
I miss these wham-bam old-school stories that went all-in on the madness. Besides the updated Mad Max tale FURY ROAD, these types of movies have been relegated to the overcrowded and hard-to-navigate VOD world and the desolate remains of Redbox. If it ain’t a superhero flick or a well-known IP, then stay in your lane, I guess? I know it’s bullsh*t, but that’s what makes UNHINGED so damn exciting. We get a major release that doesn’t fit the current Hollywood mold and feels like a love letter to a simpler and more creative (if not more ridiculous) times.
Set around the all too real issue of road rage; this doesn’t waste a second delving into the car crashing lunacy. It opens with a husky Russell Crowe “fixing” his deteriorated marriage… by murdering his ex-wife and her new man with a hammer! I’m not one to comment on how one fixes their broken relationship, but this is an example of how NOT to do it. We aren’t meant to sympathize with Crowe, and he isn’t our contemporary version of D-Fens from FALLING DOWN.
This may be Russell Crowe’s best performance in years, and yes, I know how that sounds, but give me a chance here. Crowe is known for his heroic characters, but hot damn does he play a badass villain. Sid 6.7 and Roger Ailes are two of his more underrated roles, while his character here (credited as “The Man”) has Crowe going full scene-chewing Nicolas Cage, and is stuck on ten for his entire performance. Please play more villains, Russell. I don’t ask you for much. Though I was rooting against him, “The Man” was one of the more entertaining bad guys I’ve seen in a while. To quote Ethan Hawke in GATTACA, Crowe never “saved anything for the swim back,” and It’s maybe why UNHINGED works so well. Not once did I ever feel like this was the same dude who played Maximus or Bud White. Between the screaming, sweating, and face contortions, I fully believed that his character would spend the day torturing an innocent lady for an unspoken road faux pas.
The stunts may be the biggest surprise, as this ended up being half of a Mad Max movie. The car chases and eventual crashes were balls to the wall intense. A mix of practical effects enhanced with CGI (or as far as I can tell), every turn around the corner, every car flip had me genuinely concerned for Rachel’s safety. I’m well aware she’s just a character, but you know your movie works when I’m screaming at my TV to “Double-back” or “Slow down, and turn.” I wasn’t expecting the number spectacular of car stunts, and it’s something they should have advertised more because it may be the best part of the movie.
On the flip side, my chief complaints have to do with timing and coincidence. Crowe seems to get places unscathed, and a bit too easily, especially since the police are looking for him after his double-murder opening. He keeps his same truck for the first two-thirds, and a quick car change would have eliminated an unnecessary amount of suspension of disbelief. I get that this is more “retro” in approach, but this simple fix could have done a lot. He also finds Rachel (through an app) and easily accesses her life via her phone with such ease I wonder how this story would have gone without it. Every single thing was adequately labeled, and not one app, including her banking, required a passcode. Maybe people do this? I don’t know but help a brother out and give our villain a bit of a challenge to balance things. Rachel isn’t in her sixties, so I have a hard time believing she’s this foolish.
GORE: We get some gnarly car crashes, a burning body, and head stab that got a good shiver out of me. This wasn’t shy with the red stuff, and it’s better for it.
BOTTOM LINE: UNHINGED is a retro thriller that hit all of the right notes. Maybe it’s in a predictable key, but you can’t argue against something that works this well. Some may say it’s only mindless fun, but that’s why it is so damn enjoyable. An intense thrill ride that never slows down; I’m glad to see a simple, linear story with this much passion. Russell Crowe gives the same intensity one would if aiming for an Oscar and elevates UNHINGED into a soon-to-be cult classic. The only real issues (besides some faulty American accents) is that this brings the same flawed logic from the ’80s/’90s era it’s complementing. I know we’re not meant to overthink these things, but in the age of the internet, you need to fill in these old-school plot holes. Overall it didn’t hamper my experience and was fully invested in Crowe’s New Orleans rampage. In the end, we get a solid (if not a bit violent) message about the pleasantries we must adhere to on the road. Remember, always give a courtesy tap and always return a wave. Always!