Director: Janus Metz Pederson
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Russell Crowe, Jacob Tremblay, Annabelle Wallis
Running Time: 100 minutes
Synopsis: In the mid-1990s, a team of FBI Agents including linguistics expert Joanne Miller (Shailene Woodley) attempt to track down the elusive Unabomber, who has been sending parcel bombs to educational and industrial targets for 17 years. Joanne studies the Unabomber's recently published manifesto for clues. Flashbacks to 1958 reveal the college experiences of Theodore "Ted" Kaczynski (Jacob Tremblay), the son of Polish immigrants attending Harvard University. Intellectually brilliant, Ted joins a debating experiment run by psychology Professor Henry Murray (Russell Crowe), leading to social isolation and radicalization.
What Works Well: Based on actual events, this is a taut and brisk thriller with a focus on two aspects of the Unabomber case: the manifesto that led to family members identifying Ted to the FBI as a potential suspect, and the Harvard years when Ted participated in a CIA-funded experiment of psychological resilience. The flashback scenes are more impactful, Russell Crowe as a haughty professor overestimating his relevance and Jacob Tremblay as a highly strung and socially awkward young man both bringing studious intensity to the two key roles.
What Does Not Work As Well: While Shailene Woodley is never less than competent, the fictionalization of the FBI investigation descends to television levels of immature personality clashes and agents going rogue, not helped by the sidelining of key real-life characters.
Key Quote:
Ted (in 1957): When I look around in our society, seems to me like it needs to change.
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