Unhinged

                                UNHINGED 

                                      4/5

          Ever say you have a trigger? Do you really? See, I accompany that saying with the commonly used "its like crack" when referring to something food or drink related. Now, I have no problem using that saying seeing as how I have never done crack and yet don't have to in order to know its addictive ... that being the main point of using the phrase. But saying you have a trigger or you've been triggered, well, that’s something that has just recently been popularized. When someone says a word that makes you squint or recoil in disgust ... that is not a trigger. If someone says or does something that makes you ball up a fist and even curse in anger ... THAT is NOT a trigger. Its when no one has done anything or said anything to merit any reaction and you yourself didn't expect to change moods from satisfied to psychotic, or when you suddenly and for no reason have a nail driven pain coursing through your skull and a fist like lump pulsating in your throat, that’s when you may have a trigger. That moment you have the drive and desire to do absolutely nothing in the world but destroy, rip apart, and burn just so you can try and regurgitate all the pain and rage tearing you apart inside, hoping that with every bit of destruction done by your hand that you can save what’s left of the inside, THEN, you may have been triggered. Looking at a complete stranger and wanting to do nothing more than to sink your fingers through their skin and down into their body till you anchor your nails into the muscle and start literally ripping their body apart for no reason more than just the fantasy of it . . . THEN . . . YOU MIGHT . . . have a trigger. And if its bad enough, if this is an all too common occurrence and you no longer know what triggers you, or when, or how bad it could be, then who knows ... the next time you get "triggered" then you might just come ... UNHINGED!!!!

          This film hits home for me. The main antagonist in the film, Russell Crowe's character, is an average Joe who suffered a work injury which they infer is what causes his most obvious head pain and most likely causes his HIGHLY elevated anger. I too have suffered an at work injury to the head resulting in similar symptoms, albeit highly dampened and tapered. No, I'm not even a million miles close to this guy. I only bring this up because I bow down to Russell Crowe's performance. Watching him bring this unimaginable blinding red rage to true life is terrifying because I see it and can relate to it ever so slightly. But as little as I can relate to it, I relate enough to know that a million miles down the road that character is what I would stare at in the mirror and that to me, me personally at the very least, is truly and unimaginably terrifying.

          Russell Crowe's performance is award winning ... though sadly I doubt he will receive much recognition. Structuring the character was brilliantly done by the writing and directing but bringing it all to life was left to the extremely capable talents of Russell. And let's face it, he has had public struggles himself in dealing with anger on and off set so its assumed that he has a lot of past method to pull from. But this isn't just a man with untethered and symptomatic driven rage from a bad day. You learn that this man, after suffering an injury with extremely problematic symptoms, has in fact had a bad year or two. That not being any excuse for his extreme and sadistic actions, it shows what can happen when someone, anyone, falls through the cracks of society with no one to look out for them and pull them out. 

          This is also great story telling as it pulls from what I like to call a modern day natural fear. Fears that didn't exist so much so say century's ago, perhaps even decades ago. Things like feeling something behind you while going up a flight of stairs, or someone throwing any hidden truths of yours on the net for everyone to see and judge, or honking at someone on the road with the small tinge of fear in the back of your head wondering "what if I just honked at a psycho.....what IF I see them following me ... WHAT IF ... I just messed up". And that’s what this film tackles and with great success. I mean, the character isn't terribly clever, he doesn't show any high aptitude for tactics or any kind of engineering that would make him skillful at traps. Unlike most films he is simply a force to be reckoned with. More like a force of nature! There is only one other film I know of which relates to this film and that would be the Michael Douglas classic Falling Down. Honestly in many ways this film feels like a modernized version of that film. Less plot and fewer characters but essentially the same basic story ... angry white guy loses it on society and takes it all on for the fucking rage of it!!!

          But seeing the extremes this man will go to and just how fast his escalation gets to is suspenseful to watch and terrifying to think about. When you see what he does and how fast he goes at it, all I can think about is a man turning into a MOAB and taking out as much and as fast as humanly possible! It's a film that should be heeded in today's day and age and enjoyed by horror lovers one and all!