THE UNFORGIVABLE was, quite frankly, unforgivable. How can NETFLIX create an original movie with so many stellar actors and still fail?
Sandra Bullock is an amazing actress, but her talent and creativity were squandered in this film. She played an ex-con fresh out of prison after serving 20 years for killing a cop. She wants to reconnect with her baby sister, who made it out of the foster system and was adopted at five years old.
Sandra was miscast as Ruth. The age difference does not work and is beyond evident on screen. There is no amount of CGI that could erase that many years. The only facial expression Sandra used throughout was a scowl. She continually looked homeless and helpless. I didn’t feel empathy for her circumstances because there was so little contrast to her range of emotions. Working her two jobs should have elicited a more complete picture of Ruth’s core; instead, her reactions were always the same.
And oh, Viola Davis…what a total lack of intelligence to not put her acting chops to better use. There was one mere moment during a confrontation when her creativity was visible. This was the only time her total depth of being a true master actress came to life.
The ensemble was filled with strong actors such as: Jon Bernthal, Richard Thomas, Vincent D’Onofio, and Linda Emond. This film should have, would have, could have…but didn’t. Wasted opportunities due to poor dialogue and story development. Is there a place I can get my one hour and fifty-two minutes back?
THE UNFORGIVABLE is based on a British series. Let’s hope they did it better. It is available to stream on NETFLIX.
