Unhinged

Just when Rachel (Caren Pistorius) doesn’t think her day can get any worse, it does. While at an intersection, the pickup truck in front of her won’t move and sits through an entire green traffic light. Rachel honks at the stranger and soon regrets doing so, because the man in the pickup truck (a sweaty, obese, painkiller-addicted Russell Crowe) is quite mentally deranged – he chases her down asking for an apology for her honking her horn at him. When Rachel refuses to apologize to the man (Crowe’s character remains unnamed throughout the movie), he stalks her and promises to kill everyone she’s close to, including her son. What cuts through the sometimes unbelievably cliched and oftentimes absurd script is the slasher movie-esque violence – it’s so over-the-top gory. Crowe is believable as the stalker/killer, even though it seems he’s doing his best Alex Jones impersonation at times. The movie is in the vein of Duel, Joy Ride, and Falling Down, except bloodier and way more anxiety inducing. While critics will pan this film and Crowe, at least it’s entertaining, and isn’t that the point? While coming home from this movie, I behaved. I didn’t honk at anyone.

[R]