Good performances, horrible writing, utterly brutal and for no good reason. Unthinkable was utterly ridiculous in many ways. It was NOT in fact contributing to the torture debate; it was addressing how people might react in a worst case scenario. I think there are people who would feel differently about torturing a person who has admitted to setting nuclear bombs that would kill millions of people in three days time than torturing *suspected* terrorists, who *might* possess information on *possible* future terrorist actions. No matter how you stand on the matter, I think most people would agree these two very different situations warrant separate discussions. This movie is the political version of Armageddon, The Day After Tomorrow, and Zombie World (though Zombie World had far better writing).
Samuel L. Jackson rocks as usual, but his character is as monstrous as you'd expect. Though he makes a couple OK arguments in his defense. It's more difficult to judge his actions because we see him in an extreme worst case scenario, not any of the real life situations that drive the current torture debate. If it had dealt with some of these situations, the extreme violence may have been used more legitimately. As it is, the violence here is gratuitous and revolting.
To me, the film ultimately came across as very one sided (though I suspect this was not its intent). The biggest problem was the failure to make Yusef/Younger sympathetic in any respect. The actor Michael Sheen has an incredibly emotive face and good acting skills, but the character was just a wretched excuse for a human being and was given no back story to explain his actions. He was written too flat and while I think there are interesting things about him (which I will go into in more depth momentarily), I think these characteristics are accidents; the writers have him act in ways to progress the plot rather than writing out the character and having the plot evolve from him. This is a typical problem with poor writing.
The writers/director try to get the audience on Yusef's side by making his demands reasonable and stating that he loved his country. But in order for a person to be reasonable, his tactics must also be so. And setting up nuclear bombs to kill millions of people is simply not a reasonable. Yusef is also a narcissist. The action is all about him. He is a lone wolf, not working with any legitimate or terrorist organisation. It is *his* demands. Yusef is proud and believes he can fight a just war and right some major wrongs all on his own. Add stupid and naive to the list of character traits as well.
Finally, Yusef's lack of empathy made it hard to empathise with him. The children he murdered at the mall were "martyrs" but when it came to his own children he gave up his convictions to save them. While this may seem like an appropriate fatherly reaction, this made him a hypocrite. If he had allowed his own children to die, at least the audience could find some respect for him. But as it is, he caves. A true appropriate fatherly reaction would have allowed him to empathise with the fathers of his victims, and thus be horrified at his own actions. There is no visible sense of remorse at all in Yusef. There are two instances in the film, where other characters suggest that he may not have been the best father and husband. Again, his actions regarding his children at the end may be more about himself and things that are his than about any true humanity within him. It is a similar logic framing his reaction to the wrongs done to *his* country and *his* religion. Offences against his things warrant extreme measures, i.e. killing millions or abandoning his ideals.
It might have helped to sympathise with him if the audience new somethings about his conversion to Islam and his experiences in the Middle East. We are given no details about what particularly is bothering him so much as to legitimate (in his mind) the murder of millions. As it is he's just some a**hole who didn't like Middle East policy so he decided to blow innocent people up. In the end I wanted them to kill his wife and kids, just so maybe I could feel something for the character. But honestly, as disgusting and horrifying as the torture was, I kind of just kept thinking that the character himself was a hypocritical, narcissistic bastard with no empathy for other human beings and who was going to murder millions of people. Making the terrorist a Muslim was a desperate, lame attempt to make the movie politically relevant. He may as well have been a zombie terrorist (might have made the film more interesting).
Ultimately the movie was poorly written, unnecessarily violence and bloody, and rather irrelevant.
Samuel L. Jackson rocks as usual, but his character is as monstrous as you'd expect. Though he makes a couple OK arguments in his defense. It's more difficult to judge his actions because we see him in an extreme worst case scenario, not any of the real life situations that drive the current torture debate. If it had dealt with some of these situations, the extreme violence may have been used more legitimately. As it is, the violence here is gratuitous and revolting.
To me, the film ultimately came across as very one sided (though I suspect this was not its intent). The biggest problem was the failure to make Yusef/Younger sympathetic in any respect. The actor Michael Sheen has an incredibly emotive face and good acting skills, but the character was just a wretched excuse for a human being and was given no back story to explain his actions. He was written too flat and while I think there are interesting things about him (which I will go into in more depth momentarily), I think these characteristics are accidents; the writers have him act in ways to progress the plot rather than writing out the character and having the plot evolve from him. This is a typical problem with poor writing.
The writers/director try to get the audience on Yusef's side by making his demands reasonable and stating that he loved his country. But in order for a person to be reasonable, his tactics must also be so. And setting up nuclear bombs to kill millions of people is simply not a reasonable. Yusef is also a narcissist. The action is all about him. He is a lone wolf, not working with any legitimate or terrorist organisation. It is *his* demands. Yusef is proud and believes he can fight a just war and right some major wrongs all on his own. Add stupid and naive to the list of character traits as well.
Finally, Yusef's lack of empathy made it hard to empathise with him. The children he murdered at the mall were "martyrs" but when it came to his own children he gave up his convictions to save them. While this may seem like an appropriate fatherly reaction, this made him a hypocrite. If he had allowed his own children to die, at least the audience could find some respect for him. But as it is, he caves. A true appropriate fatherly reaction would have allowed him to empathise with the fathers of his victims, and thus be horrified at his own actions. There is no visible sense of remorse at all in Yusef. There are two instances in the film, where other characters suggest that he may not have been the best father and husband. Again, his actions regarding his children at the end may be more about himself and things that are his than about any true humanity within him. It is a similar logic framing his reaction to the wrongs done to *his* country and *his* religion. Offences against his things warrant extreme measures, i.e. killing millions or abandoning his ideals.
It might have helped to sympathise with him if the audience new somethings about his conversion to Islam and his experiences in the Middle East. We are given no details about what particularly is bothering him so much as to legitimate (in his mind) the murder of millions. As it is he's just some a**hole who didn't like Middle East policy so he decided to blow innocent people up. In the end I wanted them to kill his wife and kids, just so maybe I could feel something for the character. But honestly, as disgusting and horrifying as the torture was, I kind of just kept thinking that the character himself was a hypocritical, narcissistic bastard with no empathy for other human beings and who was going to murder millions of people. Making the terrorist a Muslim was a desperate, lame attempt to make the movie politically relevant. He may as well have been a zombie terrorist (might have made the film more interesting).
Ultimately the movie was poorly written, unnecessarily violence and bloody, and rather irrelevant.