Staunch Test FAIL.
Any film that plays hostage to fortune with a name like The Unforgiveable is asking for a merciless review. Nora Fingscheidt directs this Hollywood remake of writer Sally Wainwright’s far superior UK miniseries The Unforgiven and brings nothing commendable to the screen. Sandra Bullock plays stoical, brutalised Ruth, freshly out of prison after serving 20 years for the murder of a policeman who’d come to take her little sister into care. The parallel story shows the sister, now all growed up, living with her adoptive parents and sister in wealthy Seattle suburb. But she’s tortured by memories and unresolved trauma that no one has thought to address with anything but medication. Long story short, Ruth ruthlessly pursues her mission of finding her little sister, if only to know she’s doing ok. But the sons of the murdered cop want to even things up and ruin Ruth’s life just as she ruined theirs. Every twist is flagged and there’s no doubt whatsoever what the outcome will be, but still Ruth has to be hunted, stalked, led into a trap and have a gun to her head in the process, while the step sister is kidnapped and held bound and gagged. This is a stella cast wasted in a mundane movie with only one memorable line in it, and that was about race. Unforgivable is a #StaunchTest fail.
Bridget Lawless
