Unabomber (now on Netflix) is a BOATS (Based On A True Story) movie that we all wish was a BOAFS (Based On A False Story) movie.
asserted
we → base → Story
You’re likely aware that Ted Kaczynski, informally dubbed the Unabomber, chilled Americans to the bone between 1978 and 1995 by mailing out explosive packages that killed three and injured 23 more.
asserted
that → ’re → 23
This Janus Metz-directed film draws a connection between the young Harvard student who was the subject of experiments by ethically dubious psychological researcher Henry Murray, and the terrorist Kaczynski became.
asserted
Kaczynski → direct → Murray
And while the real Kaczynski denied that connection, that doesn’t stop the movie from exploring it via speculative drama.
asserted
that → deny → drama
FBI Agent Joanne Miller (Shailene Woodley) hasn’t reached maddening Zodiac levels of frustration yet, but she seems close.
asserted
she → reach → frustration
She and her task force just ran down the wrong guy in San Francisco, which puts her back in the office, trying to convince her peers and superiors that the linguistics in the Unabomber’s recently published manifesto offer the best clue as to his identity.
asserted
linguistics → run → identity
They’re skeptical, and of course they’re all male.
asserted
they → ’re → course
It’s 1995.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
The Unabomber just blew up an ad exec in New Jersey as he enjoyed a happy day at home with his family.
asserted
he → blow → family
Pressure’s on.
asserted
Pressure → ’ → ?
Kaczynski (Jacob Tremblay) is a greeeeeeeeeeeen 16-year-old socially awkward freshman who yearns to be a philosopher.
asserted
who → yearn → ?
He’s taken under the wing of Prof. Murray (Russell Crowe) and his assistant Christiana Morgan (Annabelle Wallis), who puff the kid up a little and recruit him for a psychological experiment under the guise of debate-team training.
asserted
who → take → training
It involves strapping monitors on Kaczynski and sitting him across from a jerk who berates him and calls him the r-word and such until he turns to Jell-o.
asserted
he → involve → o.
It’s rough, even for the 1950s, and the ol’ prof apparently isn’t subject to any ethical oversight.
asserted
prof → ’ → oversight
The movie hops between timelines: Kaczynski trains himself to duel with the jerk, fumbles through an awkward double date, and argues with his domineering father.
asserted
Kaczynski → hop → father
Agent Miller is nudged away from the case but works off the clock, drawing connections between the manifesto and other writings, and interviewing Kaczynski’s younger brother.
asserted
Miller → nudge → brother
And we get to dueling conclusions, one that feels realistic, and one that sure seems to benefit from hindsight.
asserted
that → get → hindsight
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?
asserted
It → remind → You
Sharlto Copley plays Kaczynski in 2021’s Ted K., a better, if more disturbing, dramatic study that sticks wholly to Kaczynski’s perspective.
asserted
that → play → perspective
This klutzoid script does no one any favors.
asserted
script → do → favors
But Tremblay is solid, committed to a character who transitions from shy and naive to the beginning stages of a deeply troubled isolationist.
asserted
who → commit → isolationist
Our Take: Unabomber seems to have established a goal and aimed to bullseye it, rather than exploring the complicated gray areas of the scenario.
asserted
Unabomber → seem → scenario
It rather desperately wants to assert that evil is made, not born, despite the more uncomfortable truth about the human condition: There’s never a satisfactory why when it comes to people committing despicable acts.
asserted
it → want → acts
And so the psychological components of this story are naught but thin thematic gruel rendered either dull and obvious or dull and vague.
asserted
components → render → story
Metz — who helmed incredibly gripping episodes of Andor but lacks the backstop of excellent material here — oversees a film that feels impatient to reach its foregone conclusions.
asserted
that → helm → conclusions
For a movie that concludes with a title card saying this was the longest manhunt in U.S. history, that piece of the story is shrunk down to a hastily assembled 40-ish minutes of screen time.
asserted
piece → conclude → time
While Crowe enjoys a few scenery-chewing moments, Woodley has little to do beyond executing a photocopy of a photocopy of the Clarice Starling-gets-no-respect-because-she’s-a-woman arc from The Silence of the Lambs; like most thematic threads in the film, it’s introduced then left to dangle inconsequentially.
asserted
it → enjoy → film
The overall story demands a more detailed telling – hate to say it, but maybe it should’ve been a limited series.
asserted
it → demand → it
Our Call: Unabomber feels less like a movie and more like another box checked on Netflix’s long, long list of true crime content.
asserted
Unabomber → feel → content
Werner Herzog hugged him once.
asserted
Herzog → hug → him
The Aporia
