Unabomber

Directed by Janus Metz for Netflix, "Unabomber" is a biographical thriller that explores the origins of the notorious criminal Ted Kaczynski, portrayed in his youth by a haunting Jacob Tremblay. The film alternates between two timelines: the psychological experiments endured by the sixteen-year-old prodigy at Harvard under the guidance of Professor Henry Murray, played by an ambiguous Russell Crowe, and the investigations in the 1990s led by fictional FBI agent Joanne Miller, a role taken on by Shailene Woodley. Critics praised the cast performances, particularly Crowe's, but found the narrative fragmented and overly didactic, taking significant creative liberties in an attempt to explain a complex transformation in an oversimplified manner.

The result is a film that, despite its powerful subject matter and solid directorial craftsmanship, risks coming across as a flash in the pan, more interested in the surface-level thrills than the depth of a true crime story.