Unhinged

Directed by Derrick Borte, Unhinged follows Caren Pistorius’ Rachel Flynn as she’s terrorized by an increasingly violent figure (Russell Crowe’s Tom Cooper) after a heated exchange in traffic. It’s clear immediately that filmmaker Derrick Borte, working from Carl Ellsworth’s less-than-subtle screenplay, is looking to deliver a briskly-paced and unflinching thriller, as Unhinged opens with a fairly engrossing sequence that effectively establishes Crowe’s aggressive character and his far-from-stable mindset. The movie does, past that point, segue into a somewhat hit-and-miss midsection that benefits from Crowe’s captivating performance and a smattering of genuinely shocking sequences, with, in terms of the latter, Tom’s encounter with Rachel’s lawyer/friend (Jimmi Simpson’s Andy) inside a crowded diner ultimately standing as an obvious high point within the erratic proceedings. It’s just as clear, however, that Unhinged suffers from a second half that can’t quite live up to the intensity of the first, as the growing emphasis on the cat-and-mouse battle between Rachel and Tom just isn’t as compelling or engrossing as Borte has undoubtedly intended (ie it’s rather repetitive, ultimately). And although the picture recovers for an admittedly exciting climax (which is capped off with a fantastic one-liner), Unhinged has long-since confirmed its place as a watchable yet entirely uneven piece of work that’s rarely as spellbinding and electrifying as Crowe’s eye-opening turn.

**1/2 out of ****