Review of Unsane (2018) by Charles S — 23 Mar 2018

Man this one just didn't work for me. Director Steven Soderbergh is either hit...(ex. Traffic (2000), Oceans Eleven (2001), Che (2008)) then we get those just doesn't work or complete miss for me (ex.

Oceans Twelve (2004), The Informant! (2009), Side Effects (2013). This is in the second category. Critics are digging it and hell I liked the first 40 minutes a lot, but the last hour leaves really no questions and tells a tale that just didn't work for me.

The movie follows a young woman named Sawyer Valentini (Claire Foy) who has a pretty normal life other than she constantly keeps thinking a man named David (Joshua Leonard) is stalking her. Well the thing is David was stalking her, but Sawyer starts a new life in a new city, but can't escape her past.

When meeting with a psychiatrist one day Sawyer signs papers over that has her put into a mental institute. Sawyer can't do much legally since she did sign papers, but soon realizes that one of the new nurses at the hospital looks like David.

The staff disagree and Sawyer begins questioning her own sanity...at least for the first 40 minutes. Inside the hospital she meets another patient named Nate (Jay Pharoah) who appears to know a lot more about what's going on then it first appears.

The movie has some great moments. It's even crazy it was all shot entirely on an iPhone 7! The movie just has a ton of pacing problems. It's incredibly slow which doesn't entirely mean its a bad thing, but this one just never hits the creepiness factor that it could have hit.

The trailers make it appear this is a psychological horror...which it is for about 20% of the time. The movies main lead also just doesn't do it for me. She never was likeable. I liked the character of Nate better and almost wish the film was based around his story especially after the film reveals his true story.

All in all this may be worth a rental when it hits Red Box, but this is going to definitely not be for everyone. Regardless if you like the director this one just has a bit of a different style an pace that won't work for most viewers.