'Unforgivable': Is Sandra Bullock's New Netflix Movie Really As Bad As They Say?
Sandra Bullock, who was once the queen of romantic comedies, has decided to go to the 'dark side' and continue making dramas for Netflix, where she gets real 'hits'. She has just released 'Unforgivable', a film about a woman who is released from prison and who has many difficulties to redirect her life. And there are huge divisions of opinion ...
It cannot be said that it was a Christmas present, nor that it is one of the classic Netflix Christmas movies. What is certain is that the platform has just released a most controversial film that she will continue to talk about at the dinners of the next parties. And the debate will be as follows: for or against?
It is about the return of actress Sandra Bullock to Netflix, three years after her last feature film, 'Blindly', a horror film that continues to top the ranking of the most viewed movies in Netflix history and about which we knew that a second part was being prepared.
On this occasion, Bullock, already far from her profile as a romantic comedy actress with which we associate her for much of her career, chooses a most dramatic role in 'Unforgivable', a film that was released in theaters on the 24th. November and that has arrived on December 10 to Netflix.
The platform has advanced a first synopsis of 'Unforgivable': "After serving a sentence for a violent crime, Ruth Slater (Bullock) is released from prison and returns to a society that refuses to forget its past. The hostile reception in which it was his home makes Slater see that his only hope for redemption is to find his little sister, whom he was forced to abandon long ago. "
The film is an adaptation of the three-episode British miniseries "Unforgiven," which aired in 2009 and starred Suranne Jones and Emily Beecham. The script for that series, written by Sally Wainwright, has been the linchpin for the new film, in which Bullock will reprise the role that Jones played in her day.
Sandra Bullock is accompanied by big names in Hollywood, such as Viola Davis, Vincent D'Onofrio and Jon Bernthal. We have already seen a preview of the film, which does not seem to deviate much from the original series - except that, logically, it does not take place in England - and the truth is that we really want to see Sandra Bullock in this register:
Our review of 'Unforgivable'
The first thing you should know about 'Unforgivable' is that Sandra Bullock moves away from any glamor label: she plays a former prisoner. She is not combed. She has no makeup. He doesn't smile in the two hours it lasts. It's a way for the great Hollywood romantic comedy actress to get off the script a bit, but ... does she do it?
The film begins with the release of Ruth (Bullock) from prison, a scene in which we are accompanied by several flashbacks of her life and in which she shows not to be very satisfied. Her parole officer warns her that she should take a job at a shellfish packing plant and that she has to go through a terrible social reintegration center.
The same day, in another place, Katherine (Aisling Franciosi) ends up in the hospital for a tremendous traffic accident. Later we learn that they are sisters but have been estranged for a long time. All the characters that appear in the film seem to be having a really bad time, they are dejected.
One fine day, Ruth takes the bus and visits the rural farm where she lived with her sister, now inhabited by Liz (Viola Davis) and John Ingram (Vincent D'Onofrio) and their two children. John is a public defender, which is great for Ruth to get to see her sister after so many years.
The film is filled with twists of the script, characters, plots ... but it does not quite work well or be interesting, and that is the problem with 'Unforgivable'. There are so many topics he wants to tackle (mental health, friendship, parenting, family integration ...) that he ultimately just picks at it and they contribute quite little to an argument that is predictable.
The first half of 'Unforgivable' is, in general good, with a good performance of a Sandra Bullock, as we have said, away from the usual tinsel of her. But the second part ends up being a cascade of nonsense that has taken 39% on Rotten Tomatoes. Of course, viewers rate it with 82% and 7 on IMDb.
Sandra Bullock's projects for 2022
After three years without seeing her in front of the cameras, 'Unforgivable' marks the return of Sandra Bullock to the cinema. In 2022 she will release two more films, currently in post-production. One of them is 'Bullet Train', where Bullock took over from the initially chosen actress, Lady Gaga, because she was having scheduling problems with 'The Gucci House'.
In 'Bullet Train', an action thriller based on the novel by Kōtarō Isaka, she will star with Brad Pitt. It tells the story of a group of assassins, each with a different mission, who board the same high-speed train and quickly realize that their individual missions are interconnected.
In the other film, 'The Lost City', Brad Pitt is also involved, along with Daniel Radcliffe and Channing Tatum. It is a romantic and action comedy in which she plays a lonely writer of romance novels who, traveling with a model, is involved in a kidnapping attempt that takes them both on an adventure in the jungle.
