Why Raging with Russell Crowe isn't perfect, but still worth watching

During the isolation, many viewers have missed the big screens, but the studios, not wanting to take risks, are postponing major premieres to later dates. For example, the release of one of the most anticipated tapes of 2020 - Christopher Nolan's Argument - has been postponed several times due to the pandemic. So while the rental, to put it mildly, does not please with the variety and even more so with the long-awaited releases.

Furious's opening promises a tense plot

Rachel (Karen Pistorius) cannot be called the mother of the year: she suffers from chronic fatigue, is going through a difficult divorce, while she is constantly late, because of this, she loses clients and for the third time in a month does not have time to take her son to school on time.

Minor disagreements over car etiquette lead to the fact that the vengeful driver (Russell Crowe), with whom Rachel quarreled on the road, opens a real hunt for the heroine and her loved ones. The worst thing is that the random stranger is not going to stop and is ready to go as far as possible in an effort to teach the offender a lesson.

The film was released against the backdrop of a rather explosive political situation for the United States: massive protests against racism and police brutality, exacerbated problems of social and gender inequality.

Russell Crowe's character embodies a part of society that was not quite ready to accept the radical changes that have taken place in the world. He is closer in spirit to those who are sure that matriarchy reigns everywhere now and that they are not discriminating against women, but men. And he could well join one of those movements whose goal is to fight for men's rights.

To some extent, the main antagonist of the film is the anger of tired people (mostly middle-aged men), thrown to the sidelines of life. No wonder the picture begins with a brutal scene in which the hero Crowe kills his ex-wife and her current partner, and the original name Unhinged translates rather as “emotionally unstable”, “unsettled” or even “angry”. However, further, unfortunately, problems begin.

An indistinct script weakly reveals the characters and social message

The fact is that they are trying to present the main villain as a victim of difficult life circumstances. But to be imbued with the tragedy of the character and to sympathize with him simply does not work, although I really want to. After all, we are not even told the story of the hero's relationship with his ex-wife.

As a result, he turns into an ordinary killing machine with no clear backstory. This approach simply devalues all attempts by the creators to put deep social implications into the picture.

Sometimes, as you watch it, you get the feeling that the authors did not have enough time to finalize the script. We know too little not only about the vengeful driver, but also about those whom he pursues: about the heroine, her family and friends.

Such a move is sometimes justified. Steven Spielberg in his debut film "Duel" decided not to show the antagonist's face at all: according to the plot, a salesman sitting behind the wheel of a car is chased by a huge fuel truck with a blurred figure of the driver. The director thought that it would be more terrifying, and he was absolutely right.

But it doesn't work in Furious. At first, the audience is teased, showing the opening scene of the murder, the circumstances of which are not fully understood, but then they simply forget to tell about the hero's past.

Russell Crowe's excellent game saves everything

If Russell Crowe had been different, the writer's mistakes could have been fatal for the film. But the actor tried so hard that it is worth going to the movies at least for the sake of his acting. The image created by him convincingly shows how terrible a person who has nothing to lose and who has accumulated resentment against others for decades can be.

Against this background, even plot bloopers like the main character's phone, which the villain takes possession of in some way too unrealistic, seem not so obvious.

Crowe's character is unpredictable and spontaneous. At some point, he gives the impression of being invincible, because the forces of law and order are either powerless or busy with something else. This is perceived as another metaphor: in conditions of social tension (and protesters in the United States are increasingly calling on How to reform American police, according to experts to radically rethink the work of the American law enforcement system), you should not count on the police to help you.

It is very fortunate that the film eventually came out on the big screen: watching car chases in a cinema hall is much more interesting than at home. Obviously, the creators wanted to put a social message into the picture. But it lost its power even during the writing stage and does not feel as powerful as intended in the end.