Russell Crowe's New 100-Minute Netflix Crime Thriller Divides Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Russell Crowe has a new film on Netflix, and it has already garnered quite a reputation. That is partly because it is based on the story of Tad Kaczynski, better known as the film’s namesake, the Unabomber.

The other reason is that critics are finding it to be more than divisive, garnering a terrible 31% on Rotten Tomatoes from 16 reviews. Considering the film was just released on Sept. 25, it does not have an audience score at the time of writing.

The Janus Metz Pedersen-directed film is split into two parts: one follows the late ’90s investigation to apprehend the domestic terrorist, led by FBI agent Joanne Miller (Shailene Woodley), and the other follows Kaczynski as a child prodigy at Harvard University. During this time, Kaczynski (Jacob Tremblay) is recruited into a psychological study led by Professor Henry Murray (Russell Crowe) that quickly turns sinister, eventually leading to persistent rumors of CIA and MKUltra involvement.

Critics Are Split On Unabomber’s Presentation

One of the biggest issues with true-crime films is accuracy. However, that isn’t the case with Unabomber. To the film’s credit, it didn’t receive criticism over its portrayal of Kaczynski’s Harvard years and his experiences with Murray, although critics agreed that it was dramatized. The divide in opinion comes down to how the film brings everything together. On one hand, Nick Schager of The Daily Beast called it “Netflix’s most thrilling movie in years,” while Blu-ray.com’s Brian Orndorf wrote that “the picture manages to unearth compelling areas of pain to explore.”

On the other hand, ScreenRant’s Simon Gallagher wrote that he wasn’t sure “Unabomber knows what it wants to be. It feels like two completely different movies bolted together – both of which would have been more interesting than the final movie. The result of trying to balance them is that neither is served well enough.” Robert Daniels of RogerEbert.com, on the other hand, argues that the film has an aim, and that is to “add psychological depth to the domestic terrorist’s upbringing”. However, it ultimately “doesn’t rise above being a shallow made-for-TV movie exclusively composed of tawdry decisions.”

However, perhaps the most grueling review against the film so far comes from William Bibbiani of The Wrap. In writing about the film’s conclusion that supposedly makes a damning connection, “no matter how hard Pedersen pushes in the film’s final moments — and he pushes too hard — half of Unabomber always plays like a Wikipedia footnote in dire need of trimming.”

Can Unabomber Continue Netflix’s True Crime Momentum?

Ted Kaczynski in study room in Unabomber

Despite the mixed reviews, Unabomber will likely become Netflix’s new chart-topper. This is because, as many reviews have stated, the streamer has become synonymous with its vast library of true crime media. Netflix isn’t devoid of true-crime titles and has plenty of documentaries, movies, or TV shows, and usually has at least one true-crime title in the Top 10.

This is especially true right now. Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is still on top of the television Top 10 chart more than a week after release, with no signs of stopping. With Unabomber likely to score the #1 on the Movies charts, Netflix could have a true crime double feature on its hands. However, it does have some steep competition on its hands in the form of American Bollywood dance-comedy Best of the Best, Top Gun: Maverick, and the current #1 film, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

Unabomber is now streaming on Netflix.