The Disturbing Russell Crowe Thriller That's Killing It On Amazon Video
Good news: Now, thanks to the magic of video on demand, you can watch a critically acclaimed Australian actor experience homicidal road rage without ever leaving the comfort of your couch.
Academy Award-winner Russell Crowe has done a lot. Across more than 60 film credits, he's played detectives, Robin Hood, and the proud recipient of one beautiful mind. In 2020, Crowe hit the big screen again, playing what Rotten Tomatoes called "a compulsively watchable villain" in the action thriller Unhinged.
Directed by The Joneses' Derrick Borte and written by The Last House on the Left scribe Carl Ellsworth, Unhinged explores a terrifying supposition: You could be sharing the road with anyone. The movie's main character, Rachel, played by Slow West's Caren Pistorius, is involved in an altercation at a stop light. What she doesn't realize — at least, not right away — is that the man she's scuffling with has all the makings of a Falling Down-style Michael Douglass. Car horns and heated words get thrown around, but what should be a bumpy, momentary exchange blossoms into full-on terror when Rachel realizes that the man has started following her. Along for the literal ride is Gabriel Bateman from 2019's Child's Play as Rachel's son, as well as Westworld's Jimmi Simpson as her friend Andy.
Road rage? More like Crowe-d Rage, right?
Reviews for Unhinged were mixed — it currently holds a 48% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a solid 77% of audiences giving it a positive reaction. Of particular note is Crowe's performance, which was singled out by almost everyone. The Daily Telegraph gushed that "No one shows anger boiling in the stomach quite like Crowe, who finds a way to kick-start this material," while others asked, somewhat pleadingly, if the audience was not entertained.
The eagle-eyed will have noticed that 2020 was a weird year in general, and that the entertainment industry took some major hits. Unhinged was one of a bevy of films with US release dates that pinballed around the calendar thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. It bounced from August to September, was scheduled for three out of five weekends in July, then back to August. The movie inspired some controversy when it became one of the first wide-release motion pictures in several months, a move that essentially handed it a top box office spot, but which many felt was irresponsible in light of current events. Somewhat appropriately, given the subject matter, Deadline reported that it saw the most success at drive-in movie theaters, where one can only assume that everyone was especially polite about sacrificing the right of way as they exited the lot.
Perhaps most importantly, in the lead up to the theatrical release of Unhinged, Russell Crowe adjudicated an AITA Reddit forum, where he really went bananas on the subject of chili.