Review of The Unforgivable (2021) by Thar12 — 04 Jan 2022

Great Cast, Weak Plot.

It's summed up pretty easily in one sentence. Sandra Bullock delivers quite a believable performance in a role that is quite unique for her. The supporting cast is also fantastic. However, the story tries to create thought provoking scenarios centered around the natural instinct to protect family at all costs, but falls quite short in that attempt. Most of the movie is just a slow grind about what life is like outside of prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime. She meets some people along the way, and a handful of them are quite lovely, others are terrible to her. Then, they just disappear from the movie, even after what seems like they'll play an important role. The subplots just kind of end...

After about 1.5 hours of literally just living her new life, we get to the climax. Now, the ending is exciting, which is a nice change from the grueling, somber mood throughout. However, the big reveal comes in the form of a fairly unrealistic--or at least unreasonable--twist. We find out, that Ruth (Sandra Bullock) never committed the murder of the sheriff; in fact it was her 5 YEAR OLD SISTER!!! For some reason, Ruth decides to lie, and tell the police that Ruth killed him herself, to protect her preschool sister. That led her to serving a 20 year prison sentence, when telling the truth probably gets her some kind of negligence charge. While her intentions were loving, it's hard to imagine how that didn't do more harm than good. Let's face it: we don't send 5 year old girls to prison...

Anyways, great performances through an absolute grind for about 12 mins of excitement.