First Take: Unhinged- don’t get out of the car

SYNOPSIS: After a confrontation with an unstable man at an intersection, a woman becomes the target of his rage.

Funny old thing, lockdown. It’s given indie releases the time to shine during the reopening of the industry. For German director Derrick Borte, it must be a big relief that territories are reopening with his film, and sure, it isn’t perfect, but it is an entertaining, if a little predictable, thriller that has got the audiences back in to UK cinemas this week.

Borte’s direction is decent, clocking in at a tight 90 minutes, but working to a script from Carl Ellsworth, it does feel a little bit paint by numbers at points, which in a thriller, is usually the sign of a tired archetype. Yes, the action is pretty violent for a 15, but it is tonally justified given the film’s narrative. On cinematography duties is Brendan Galvin, who does an OK job (some elements were obviously shot on GoPros because of the lack of noise reduction - that’s one for the production nerds), and on scoring duties is David Buckley, who again, does a decent job.

As for the cast, it is lead by Russell Crowe - who does put in some good work as ever, creating a very menacing, brutal, and unnamed man who is literally the embodiment of this film’s title. Supporting him are a cast of relative unknowns to UK audiences, which include Caren Pistorius, Jimmi Simpson, Gabriel Bateman and many others, but the work of Pistorius carries this film over the finish line. While this is an independent film, it is of a very high quality, but obviously Tenet is gonna bury this thing come the 26th.

THE VERDICT

For what it’s worth, Unhinged is a good reopening film. But circumstances of the release aside, I can understand why Sky Cinema bought into this movie, as it probably wouldn’t have done as well if it had come out this time last year for example.

RATING: 3/5

Unhinged is currently in UK cinemas, and will open stateside on August 21st.