Review | Unhinged movie review: Russell Crowe portrays pure evil in road-rage thriller
- An adrenaline-fuelled ride begins when a woman honks her horn at the car in front that won’t move when the light goes green at a traffic stop
- Crowe is utterly compelling as a bearded sociopath who snaps, but the real revelation is Caren Pistorius as his Everywoman victim
3.5/5 stars
This is an interesting time in the career of Russell Crowe. Once Hollywood’s go-to guy for macho heroes – in films such as L.A. Confidential and Gladiator, for which he won an Oscar – the Antipodean star has recently taken to playing juicy supporting roles. Think of his profane mentor in True History of the Kelly Gang or his pastor in Boy Erased who sends his gay son for conversion therapy.
In Unhinged, he’s a very different kind of monster. When we meet Crowe’s character – just called “The Man” in the credits – he’s outside a suburban home in his car. He heads inside, sets fire to the place and then calmly leaves as flames lick the building. It sets the shocking tone for what’s to come: a violent, thrilling tale of road rage, relentless revenge and remorseless pursuit.
When the story proper gets under way, we are introduced to Rachel (Caren Pistorius), a harassed mother who is late dropping off her son to school. She has also just lost a client, adding to her mood, but none of that will soon matter. After cutting off the freeway to make up time, she finds herself at a traffic stop behind a car that refuses to move when the light turns green.
She honks her horn, and is soon confronted by the driver – Crowe’s burly, bearded sociopath. What follows is a brutal onslaught as The Man snaps, and begins to follow poor Rachel like a demented Terminator. There’s little backstory as to why he’s become unhinged; instead it’s better to accept him as an urban bogeyman, a living embodiment of all that seething anger you regularly see on social media.
