Notable cast: Russell Crowe, Caren Pistorius, Jimmi Simpson,
Gabriel Bateman
There is a tendency in film where disaffected men forgotten
by society rebel and make some grand statement that boils down to “I am here,” usually
while spouting some sort of nihilist street philosophy. Some of our greatest
films are in this mold, from Scorsese classics Taxi Driver and The
Last King Of Comedy, to their strange love child Joker and
everything in between, this is a reasonably well-tread trail. It’s not a bad
thing, but the tendency towards making these disaffected men the protagonist created
a certain personality of moviegoer that has had the effect of changing these
characters into cultural heroes instead of the portrayal of tragedy that they’re
supposed to be. More simply? Tyler Durden is a bad guy. Plain and simple. He’s a
domestic terrorist and an emotionally manipulative sociopath. To say nothing
of the aforementioned Joker. Both enjoy a weird cultural hero status
that’s always sat weirdly with me. I think it’s the protagonist that’s the
issue in this case, in the sense that these character studies tend to follow
the character being studied. Unhinged takes a different and exciting
angle with that character type by shifting the focus to the victim of insane, unhealthy rage.