Movie Review: Unthinkable

Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Michael Sheen

I wasn't too sure what to think of this one when I fist saw the trailer for it. The premise looked interesting, but I wasn't prepared for how far it went. I don't usually do a play by play of movies, but I have to with this one...so there are major spoilers.

The focus of the movie was about a converted Muslim man, Yunger (Sheen), who placed nuclear bombs in three cities in the U.S. He releases a tape to the media admitting what he has done, asks for demands
to be met, and eventually allows himself to be caught. The bombs are set to go off at a certain time, making the government desperate. They bring in a man, known only as H (Jackson), who specializes in torture, and several FBI agents end up along for the ride.

Throughout the movie, the female FBI agent (Moss) is pretty much for stopping the torture, even though millions of lives are on the line. H and the rest disagree, and the torturing gets more and more over the top the longer it goes on. At one point they are cutting off his finger nails, and then later they are shocking him with a car battery. Eventually, H murders the Yunger's wife in front of him and threatens to kill his kids...which he says "is unthinkable". He tells where the three bombs are, but won't tell with the supposed fourth bomb is. He shoots himself and that's pretty much the end of the movie.

The movie walks a very fine line between pro and anti torture/U.S./military. Given the situation, many people would support what was done, with the exception of murdering the wife...which some will agree and others will disagree. Others will not only condemn the what happened, but also see this overall as an anti-Muslim/anti-war film. It really depends on your viewpoint.

There were two main things I didn't like about the movie. The first was the torture scenes. They were way too graphic and disturbing...and this is coming from someone who enjoys watching slasher films. They could have made just as much impact without being so graphic. The second thing was the ending. It really only seemed like the movie was just starting to get going. The guy admitted were the bombs were and I figured that the ending was going to be the mad dash to defuse them or at least one of them going off. I was sadly let down. It just abruptly ends.

Overall, it was okay but I generally didn't like it. It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't watched it. I wouldn't recommend it to most, mainly due to the graphic violence.


2.5 stars