Judging by what we could see while watching this (thankfully brief) trailer through our fingers, Samuel L. Jackson’s new vehicle, “Unthinkable”, is a 24 type action-thriller that approaches the heated debate over torturing terrorists that this country was embroiled in just a few years ago. Some old techniques were called waterboarding, some new techniques will now be called “watching-this-trailer.”
We learn that the United States faces a major threat from three nuclear devices planted in three U.S. cities by a terrorist (Michael Sheen). With only two days before they are detonated, black-ops agent (Jackson) interrogates and eventually physically tortures the man who claims to have planted the bombs, in an attempt to save millions of lives.
The situation escalates when a female leader of an FBI anti-terrorism team (Carrie-Anne Moss) warns that the method is illegal. Blurring the lines between right and wrong, Jackson persists and using his own brand of counter terrorism, he decides that there is nothing that can stop him in finding out how to prevent the bombs from being exploded. It’s safe to assume that he gets the answers he’s looking for.
The film was directed by Gregor Jordan who made the not-great-but-not-terrible “Buffalo Soldiers” back in 2001 but then followed it up with the middling “Ned Kelly” and last year’s execrable “The Informers.” He seems be doing his damndest to put his career in the toilet while bringing down usually decent actors with him.
This film takes itself far too seriously to ever experience the guilty pleasure of other terrible Samuel L Jackson movies or to explore the issue of the torture intelligently. Short of releasing a Youtube clip of “if those bombs go off there will be no Constitution!” (which is clearly the awesomest line/part of the movie) featuring Autotune, we can’t imagine why anyone will care about this movie. Fortunately for Michael Sheen though, he now has a re-occurring role on “30 Rock” in what we think is an obvious an attempt to set the universe right and cleanse his soul.
“Unthinkable” currently doesn’t have an American release date or distributor. We can’t imagine why. –Sara Laurence