UNTHINKABLE is a pretty interesting single location thriller about the efforts of a crack government team to get a terrorist to reveal the location of not one, not two, but three nuclear bombs which he has hidden in the USA. It's quite a gruelling viewing experience but one which works thanks to the high levels of suspense and a genuinely unforeseeable outcome.
I tend to avoid films like this one as they're often self-consciously preachy in their attempts to tell a message. UNTHINKABLE does have something of an anti-American vibe going on, but it doesn't really affect the outcome of what is an efficient thriller. The person holding the film together is Samuel L. Jackson, who quite wonderfully gives one of those barnstorming, larger-than-life performances that we used to see back in the 1990s. Jackson reminds me of Gary Oldman a little: both are actors who came to fame with their angry performances, but who Hollywood have subdued in the last fifteen years or so. It's great to see the old fire back.
The rest of the cast are all right, although not on Jackson's level. I don't like Michael Sheen very much and find him an odd choice to play the terrorist; I guess casting a genuine Arab actor in the role would have been too controversial. Carrie-Anne Moss does quite well as the protagonist although the straight role she plays is quite a boring one. Two character actors, Gil Bellows and Stephen Root, are both very good in smaller roles. There are some hard-hitting torture sequences in this film which I didn't see coming, and an against-the-clock climax which ratchets up the tension no end.
I tend to avoid films like this one as they're often self-consciously preachy in their attempts to tell a message. UNTHINKABLE does have something of an anti-American vibe going on, but it doesn't really affect the outcome of what is an efficient thriller. The person holding the film together is Samuel L. Jackson, who quite wonderfully gives one of those barnstorming, larger-than-life performances that we used to see back in the 1990s. Jackson reminds me of Gary Oldman a little: both are actors who came to fame with their angry performances, but who Hollywood have subdued in the last fifteen years or so. It's great to see the old fire back.
The rest of the cast are all right, although not on Jackson's level. I don't like Michael Sheen very much and find him an odd choice to play the terrorist; I guess casting a genuine Arab actor in the role would have been too controversial. Carrie-Anne Moss does quite well as the protagonist although the straight role she plays is quite a boring one. Two character actors, Gil Bellows and Stephen Root, are both very good in smaller roles. There are some hard-hitting torture sequences in this film which I didn't see coming, and an against-the-clock climax which ratchets up the tension no end.