Netflix’s ‘Unabomber’ chronicle is a dud

     An intriguing story exists deep within the Netflix production of “Unabomber.” But director Janus Metz never quite discovers it, resorting instead to tired police-procedural tropes and the dimmest dime-store psychology.

    In its favor is a solid turn by Russell Crowe as disgraced Harvard psychology professor Henry Murray, whose maniacal Thematic Apperception Test, many speculate, had a pathological impact on a then 16-year-old Ted Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber. The role fits Crowe to a T, as he returns to the classroom for the first time since picking up an Oscar for his portrayal of the troubled MIT mathematician John Nash.

    I found it interesting that both Murray and Nash were connected to the U.S. intelligence services, with Murray more deeply immersed. Accordingly, Metz and writers Sam Chalsen and Nelson Greaves paint Murray as concealing some rather dark thoughts behind his dedicated professor facade. Chief among them are mind-damaging theories on human nature that he shared only with his mistress and top assistant, Christiana Morgan (Annabelle Wallis).

   One of their test subjects turns out to be Kaczynski (baby-faced Jacob Tremblay), tricked into volunteering for Murray’s CIA-sponsored experiments to determine if humans have a psychological breaking point. Young Kaczynski certainly has his, and it reveals itself almost immediately as he buckles under the vitriolic verbal abuse administered by the mysterious attack dog, Mr. C (Gus Halper), a plant Kaczynski is led to believe is merely a debate opponent.

     This is the part of the story I found interesting. And had Metz (“Borg vs. McEnroe”) stuck with it, “Unabomber” might have succeeded. But for some head-scratching reason, he and his writers opt to disrupt the flow by intermittently flash-forwarding to 1995 and the intense manhunt for the suspect the FBI dubbed UNABOM, short for UNiversity and Airline BOMber. It’s like stepping into an entirely different movie, one riddled with TV-cop clichés and ultra-cheesy police-speak banter.

      At the center of the investigation are intrepid FBI field agents Joanne Miller (a miscast Shailene Woodley) and Leo Driver (hunky Alexander Ludwig), who the film suggests are the only two investigators working the case. In truth, there were dozens, and likely no one resembling the fictitious Miller, who goes rogue after her colleagues discount her suspicions (based on a tip from his brother, David) that Kaczynski is the man responsible for killing three and injuring dozens of others with his crude mail bombs.

    Their now-18-year pursuit is standard boilerplate for second-rate TV detective shows like “NCIS,” with Woodley’s Miller as the “intuitive one” whose theories go unheeded. At least not until she does a little snooping on her own, flying to Lincoln, Montana, on her day off to check out the primitive, backwoods shack Kaczynski calls home. It’s hard not to chuckle as she furtively darts behind a series of tree trunks, attempting to get ever closer, almost to the point of being shot. All the while, her bumbling male, pale and stale comrades back at Justice continue to chase red herrings.

    It’s ridiculous and takes you out of the far more involving story set in 1958, when Professor Murray may well have been unleashing a monster on society through his unethical experiments. But even these segments ultimately turn problematic, as both Crowe and Tremblay devolve into histrionics in the clutch. You want the film to dig deeper into these two unsound minds, but Metz is too busy repeatedly checking back in with Agent Miller. Adding to the frustration is the fact that the film takes numerous liberties with how Kaczynski’s capture really went down.

     The arrest is also surprisingly short on suspense, which is all the more reason to focus entirely on Kaczynski’s life-altering stint at Harvard, where a nerdy, asexual 16-year-old from small-town Illinois suddenly finds himself alone in a major city like Boston, unprepared for phonies like Murray and his equally duplicitous lover. Why would you not stick with that scenario?

     It makes no sense, except perhaps Metz and company felt obliged to dumb it down for mass consumption. Which is exactly the sort of groupthink that fueled Kaczynski’s fury on his one-man vendetta against institutions and their unchecked control over the masses. Alas, Kaczynski didn’t live to see what Hollywood has done to his story. Had he, I’m sure he’d be amused by the perverse irony of it turning out to be a bomb.

Movie review

Unabomber

Rated: R for language

Cast: Russell Crowe, Jacob Tremblay, Shailene Woodley and Annabelle Wallis

Director: Janus Metz

Writers: Sam Chalsen and Nelson Greaves

Runtime: 97 minutes

Where: Premiering on Netflix Sept. 25

Grade: C-