2.5 out of 5 stars (Decent)
Thank you to writer/director George Loomis for reaching out to me for this review. Unthinkable is now available on Video on Demand with iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, FandagoNow, Redbox TVOD, Movie Spree, Comcast and Charter cable companies.
Unthinkable is the kind of movie best described as “Genre confused”. Its opening and overarching plot sound like a thriller, but the film largely plays out like a character drama with undercooked thriller elements that don’t coalesce until the very end. Unthinkable is well-shot and has good writing and performances, but its uneven mixture of dramatic and thriller aspects may leave some audiences frustrated.
Jones (George Loomis) is a caring medical student working through his credit hours and dealing with a traumatic past. When he is assigned to improve the health of an ex US ambassador for Syria (Christopher Cousins) in preparation for a heart transplant, Jones unknowingly enters a world of secrets and deceit that he was never prepared to handle.
Unthinkable has a lot going for it. The direction is solid, the writing is good, and the cast (containing some big names who I won’t spoil) delivers good performances. Taken purely as a drama, the movie is engaging enough and provides us with likable characters, but as a thriller the film takes far too long to narratively rev up. The thriller scenes are tense and well-handled, but they feel tonally at odds with the more dramatic feel of the movie around them. I believe Loomis and Co. easily could have made a solid character drama or a tense thriller out of Unthinkable, but in attempting to combine both genres, the end product is a decently entertaining yet uneven experience. Despite its flaws, I still say Rent Unthinkable.
Likely would be Rated R for Language