sufficient for me to spend 1.5 to 2 hours in front of the screen. Unthinkable is by no means a mediocre thriller. It is strongly oriented towards characterization than increasing the body count. Of course, you get to see a lot of dead bodies and some gruesome visuals, but the film is interested in motives of the characters and to what extent they would go when situation demands.
FBI Special Agent Helen Brody (Carrie-Anne Moss) and her team are investigating terrorist threats. They get a video footage, in which Yusuf (Michael Sheen) appears and threatens to detonate three nuclear bombs spread across different US cities if his demands are not met. But, he doesn't spell out his demands. Later, he gets arrested himself which looks like a voluntary surrender. Enters a special interrogator called H (Samuel Jackson), whose methods are less humane.
From here, Unthinkable could have become a cheesy thriller with convoluted plot twists, but it avoids those mis-steps and remains faithful to the plot and respects the viewers' intelligence. We expect Yusuf to be larger than life, who would taunt his capturors and laughs at the proceedings. But he doesn't do that. He is as human like others with an extra bit of endurance to torture. He gains upper hand more than once but he never appears sinister and his demands are also not too difficult to be met with a lip service.
Brody, who appears empathetic to Yusuf, tries all her good-cop routines to know where the bombs are. But, when the results are not coming, she is ready to resort to other methods, which she vehemently opposed in the first place. H, is a person whose existence or solicitation will be denied by the government, but he is not a monster. He has a task at hand and he sees himself as a mere tool to accomplish it. He does what needs to be done without being attached. Somehow, he represents to me the essence of Bhagavat Gita: Do your duty without expectations.
What catches my imagination is that the whole movie avoids most of the cliches and kept me guessing till the end. Its fascinating to see the three protagonists alternatively pushing themselves to perform one unthinkable act to another. I was curious to know how far they would go. Is a greater good an excuse to do something inhuman? This thought remains lingering even after the movie ends.
