Unthinkable takes the idea of “how far is too far” to a new extreme. Unthinkable star Samuel L. Jackson as a black ops interrogator who is called in to interrogate an American Muslim, Michael Sheen, alongside an FBI agent, Carrie Anne Moss, to assertain the location of three nuclear bombs in seperate U.S. cities.

The movie starts with a man making a videotape. From there it leads to the search for a terrorist, the forming of a task force and the integration of a black ops unit. Samuel L. Jackson is introduced as a master interrogator who leads the interview with Yusuf. From the moment the interrogation begins, with the cutting off of one of Yusuf’s fingers, the movie is one “dick measuring” scene aftrer another. Samuel L. Jackson does the one thing he can do really well and Michael Sheen proves his versatility playing a torture victim.

The most memorable thing in this film is the job Micheal Sheen does playing Yusuf. He nails the obsessed Muslim with balls of steel routine and from the beginning of the movie till the end of the movie. Throughout you watch the absolute destruction of everything his character has to offer. He starts as a cool, confident, fearless terrorist and ends up as someone more human who has to ask himself if he will risk everything to prove a point.

My only real fault of the movie is to its credit. Throughout the movie you are consistently switching loyalties. This has more to do with having to watch someone be tortured and having the movie play on your own humanity than it does actually having sympathy for a terrorists ideals, but it’s emotionally challenging switching viewpoints so much. Yusuf is continually tortured and you can’t believe that this pain is necessary and then he’ll do something that reaffirms the idea that we need to do whatever we can to stop people like this.

Unthinkable isn’t a masterful movie that can’t be missed but it’s powerful performances and questions it has to offer make it a great watch. It might not fully answer the question “How far is too far” but it’ll sure as hell make you think about it.

7.5 out of 10

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