Customer Reviews

Unthinkable

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

As stated by many reviewers, this movie is a 5 star "under the radar" supernnova! Samuel Jackson portrays a "non-existent" terrorist interrogator, who is brought out to save the country from a nuclear Muslim terrorist, Arthur Younger played beautifully by Michael Sheen. Younger is frighteningly convincing with a mysterious conviction, a personal and religious agenda involving at least 3 hidden nuclear bombs of mass destruction, hidden in unknown metropolitan America.

Jackson's character is magnificent, simply known as "H," the silver bullet weapon who is the only chance to extract key information and save millions from an impending holocaust. The movie races under a pressure cooker of time, obstacles of authority, and confusion on how far to go in this unbelievable quandry of intensity and horror. What does "H" need to do to uncover and neutralize this madman's design to kill millions of innocents? The military and intelligence teams are portrayed with sublime perfection, especially the supporting actress, Carrie Ann Moss. She is utterly convincing as an icon of righteousness in being Helen Brody, FBI supervisor. Helen is on a rollercoaster of confliction, bound by integrity, ethics, and procedure who undergoes a shattering metamorphasis as the plot unfolds into one of narrowing, "unthinkable" choices.

This movie is more than thought provoking...it erupts off the Richter scale with aftershocks of repercussion that stay with the viewer for days! Shameful, painful, but somehow justifiable degradation of civilized behaviors under the duress of mass annihilation. What exactly will we do to protect our own and how will we justify it after the fact? "All virtue is summed up in dealing justly." ~Aristotle~ The premise remains as to "What is justice in certain circumstances...or does it cease to exist?" How far can we go before we individually and collectively blur the lines of our ethics and morality and revert back to primitive survival instincts? Is survival a matter of virtue or justice? Are basic instincts wrong?

This movie is impossible to watch without churning up inevitable questions of what lies beneath our civilized behaviors. Physical and mental torture are dancing on the razor's edge, the director (Gregor Jordan) is masterful at capturing the hidden, delicate and sledge hammer effects of this incredible and poignant battle. A masterpiece that will haunt our thoughts into analyzing each and every facet in this prescient film. Absolutely unthinkable to miss this one...

I am usually hard pressed to give 5 stars to any movie, game, etc but this movie gives excellent reasons for me to give 5 stars.
The review by M. Himed was excellent except one point. He/she stated that there was a scene where a woman said she had been raped. He said we didn't know if she was Muslim or Christian. He/she was incorrrect. The woman speaking to Carrie-Anne Moss was Sam Jackson's wife and in the beginning of the movie they clearly state, his wife is a devoute Muslim. She was the one who was raped at one point. It's one of the reasons Sam Jackson is considered to be one of the most dangerous people that the Gov reps use to do their dirty work. He has reasons to hate terrorists.
Michael Sheen is awesome in his performance. With a large, well known cast around him, he stepped up and delivered an amazing performance. The mental chess game he plays is very well acted.
This movie shows the average viewer that sometimes, the unthinkable MUST be done in order to save the lives of the innocent.
Some people watching this have said that "You just can't do that!" or "That would never happen!". This is a movie called "Unthinkable". It is A MOVIE about an interrogator that will do anything to get the information in order to save lives. Even use women and children for leverage. Yes, it's hard to watch but that is what this movie is about.
I can't recommend this enough.

Extremely powerful. I finished watching this movie a few moments ago, and am struggling to come up with the words to describe it. First I should say that the movie is graphicly violent, as most of it is based on the torture of one suspected terrorist. The movie generally plays on the what-ifs and what people assume is the worst case scenario to an attack on the United States. However unlikely we may want to say the story is, those that have researched wartime history know that as humans we have been and can be amazingly cruel. One of the things that I thought was well done with this movie is that... at least to me... did not seem to tell the story from only one perspective. Whether it was the conflict between "suspect" and government agencies, or the conflict between giving life value or to torture, or whether we would be willing to destroy everything we are in order to save ourselves. I was hesitant to rent this movie at first simply because I have not been impressed with Samuel Jackson's choices of roles over the past few years... but I think this is the best work he has done in a long time. Despite that the movie may take some turns the viewer finds unthinkable, they were smart enough to know that not everything has to be shown to be conveyed. And unfortunately for us as the human race, the reality could be worse than what the movie even implies. But I believe the movie was made to make the viewer think, because in the end there may be no definitive moment for either side to say "Aha! See I was right, and therefore it was all worth it."

This movie is an excellent, thought provoking piece. The characters are not the run of the mill fluff types. The director skillfully depicts the array of human emotions the characters would go through during a catastrophic threat. Whatever your beliefs on interrogation methods and human rights, this fiom shows that it is not a simple matter as the agents vacillate in where they draw the line and what they consider acceptable or unthinkable when innocent lives are lost or in danger.

The situation: Nuclear bombs are planted in at least three American cities and a terrorist has decided he will endure any torture, if necessary, to stick to his beliefs. Samuel Jackson plays H, a man who is willing to do just about anything to get information from the terrorist. Things become very bloody and very gory quite quickly.

Before describing this movie any further, I need to be clear that if you have ANY difficulty watching graphic portrayals of a man being tortured...you will definitely have issues with this one. Whether you can stand to watch the movie or not, at least think about what levels of torture you would find acceptable to save lives. Not every single detail of the torture is shown but there is enough to be quite graphic, along with the screams of a man in deep pain. It is very easy to imagine exactly what is being done...even when it isn't shown.

Helen Brody, played by Carrie-Anne Moss, balances out H's commitment to full scale torture. She is horrified by how the terrorist is treated but also has to question her values as time goes on.

When the movie ended, I confess that I said, "Wait! Is that the ending? They left it like THIS?!"That ought to tell you that this isn't one of those movies where every last detail is nicely explained and packed in a fine, neat ending with a moral or message with a capital "M". You aren't pounded over the head with any meaning. However, after I got over my initial disappointment (after all, I'd watched all those torture scenes and that is NOT my cup of tea), I started to realize how the ending made sense.

My take is that this movie is meant to get people thinking how far they would be willing to go to potentially save lives. Also at stake: how useful is torture in getting the truth out of the tortured? What toll does it take on those who are torturers? How do people who have a strong distaste of certain types of torture react when they have to question their deepest beliefs?

In spite of my strong reaction to the ending, this movie did leave me thinking about it for days so that could be reason enough to see it. Samuel L. Jackson gives a very strong performance and the woman who plays his wife (can't recall the name of that actress) has one powerful moment where I believe she makes Helen Brody realize that life is far more complex than Brody ever realized. I may not be remembering these words perfectly but Brody doesn't hide her disgust when she asks H's wife something like "How can you justify what he does? How can you accept him?" The wife explains her side of things and Brody is forced to think beyond "good" and "evil" and truly wonder what needs to be done to keep the country safe. At least, she starts down the path of doubt.

I related strongly to the characters and wish I hadn't assumed that the ending would be so pat. If you want a suspense movie that makes you think, try this one. If you like to know exactly "what happens next?" the ending may leave you feeling let down. It left me feeling that way. But the movie still haunted me.

Whining about the end not being "happy" is the opinion of fairy tail reading people with childlike minds that get disturbed by realistic things. Probably robbed of their ability to deal with the real world in their youth by religion inculcating parents; the result of said conditioning is an irrational desire if not outright need for FICTION to disorient them to the point of not being responsible for their actions.

This story is obviously an entertainment fiction in which a homegrown nuclear terrorist is well prepared for his inevitable torture sessions which are illustrated as WAY over the top. I don't know enough about the REAL situations to be critical of what happens during prisoner interrogation. I do believe that for every enemy combatant you torture, you inspire a thousand more to violence against you

Gotta go! The Scamazon Gestshoppo and I don't agree on much as they also have an addiction to fiction and damn proud of it!

A very hard-hitting film with an ever harder-hitting performance by Samuel L. Jackson. Samuel portrays the character so beautifully that while the menace in his character is easily believable, nobody would hate the character played by him. The balance achieved by Samuel was superb. He deserves an Oscar for this performance.

Samuel L. Jackson and Carrie Anne-Moss are superb but Michael Sheen's performance as the tortured terrorist is simply brilliant in an Oscar-worthy performance.
The movie addresses how far will one go to protect himself or his country.
The movie is graphic and disturbing--you can't take your eyes off of it. The climax is sudden and doesn't answer a pivotal question, but I think this is intentional. The movie is all about what we will do or shouldn't do. It's a very well done thriller.

It's understandable why this film was not released due to its controversial nature, but it's definitely a film not to be missed.

I was emotionally awakened, and...no matter how much I've read and discussed in class the subject of terror and torture, I never fully understood the moral dilemma 'til I watched this movie.
The film moved at a good pace with a phenomenal cast, and the story was told in such a provocative way that I couldn't tear my eyes off the screen half way through.
The anticipation of the torture made me uneasy, but, I felt I had to keep watching to get the point of the movie.

When I simply read about torture, I felt disconnected to it, and was confused as to which side to take (torture/kill a few, save a million, or don't torture/kill at all, but run the risk of killing a million indirectly).
However, now I'm leaning towards the lesser evil, because I couldn't let a million people die if I could help it, even if I have to kill a few.
I'd have to break myself emotionally to do it- and, even if it means children, although I don't know if I could actually do it when the time comes, but I wouldn't stop it if someone else did.

Yeah, torture is wrong, but sometimes questioning/negotiating leads NO WHERE.
Then what? Just let the bomb go off and kill ALL those people?
It doesn't make sense.
There's just too much to say, and I'd say this film did a great job in painting everyone as the villain and as the good guy.
I'd say the real villains are those at the top controlling the minds of the masses using religion as the catalyst.

Now, normally I wouldn't be able to watch a movie like this, but given the fact that it was steeped in such truth, i felt it necessary to stay glued, which i did, as disturbing as it was/is. it's been a long, long time since i've seen anything as thought provoking as this...which is why i am recommending you watch it. frankly, i think every American should watch this movie, stop "turning a blind eye", and face facts. these things have happened, are happening and may continue to happen, therefore i believe it is incumbent upon us all to stare this straight in the eye and decide where we stand. this movie does a great job, imho, of portraying both sides of the fence...without propaganda...that, in and of itself, was shocking! so.."in a nutshell" see the movie