Posted by To feed the modern day thirst for true crime, documentaries, TV and film dramatisations are churned out at what seems like an industrial scale. The latest piece off the production line is Unabomber, which is about the titular terrorist – real name Ted Kaczynski – who sent mail bombs from 1978 to 1995 to those who lived contrary to his worldview.
Directed by Janus Metz Pedersen (Borg Vs McEnroe), we flit from the current day 1995/96 to Kaczynski’s formative years in academia in the 70s – as he goes from philosophy enthusiast to a deranged and dangerous loner. The film follows the well trodden path of crime dramas like this, as the new/outsider cop has a theory that the rest of the team disagrees with. What follows is ructions, dead ends, a trail of breadcrumbs and eventually an eureka, I told you so moment. Cue the arrest and the end credits which tell you a bit about what actually happened.
This is a genre film through and through, but an engaging and well made one. The cop in question is a decent if middle of the road Shailene Woodley, who can only do so much with the ten a penny character she’s given. Russell Crowe is entertaining as the detached academic Henry Murray, who runs demanding psychological and personality tests on Ted. Jacob Tremblay is the latter and is the main attraction, he is believable as the innocent and eager student who slowly but surely morphs into a cynical, embittered and dangerous man.
An engaging if rather simplistic crime thriller which is worth watching for Jacob Tremblay’s scenes alone.
6/10
