Unsane might not be the perfect or even greatest psychological thriller to come down the pike, it is a well made film, especially considering director Steven Soderbergh used an iPhone to shoot. Beyond the experimental aspect, the performance from Claire Foy was great.
Unsane
(2018)
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Universal | R – 98 min. – $37.98 | June 19, 2018
Date Published: 06/08/2018 | Author: The Movieman
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 3.75/5 |
Note: This review contains some major spoilers so reader please beware! No one would ever say Steven Soderbergh isn’t a unique filmmaker and although he’s no Denis Villeneuve, Darren Aronofsky or Guillermo Del Toro, he does take chances with his style. This time he has made Unsane, a movie entirely shot using the iPhone 7, reportedly on a budget of $1.2 million. And for the most part it really works and I found it far more engaging compared to his last film, Logan Lucky. Claire Foy plays Sawyer Valentini, a young woman starting anew after being terrorized by a stalker. Seeking counseling, she unknowingly signed a form for a voluntary commitment for 24 hours into the Highland Creek Behavioral Center. Following emotional and violent outbreaks, the commitment is extended citing concerns for her and others’ well being. Soon, though, she sees a man (JOSHUA LEONARD) who looks just like her stalker, but the question is: “Is she or isn’t she?” I actually quite enjoyed Unsane for the most part, especially one that is somewhat experimental but what was presented was sometimes trippy thriller with an excellent atmosphere where the main character teeters from one nightmare to another and you truly begin to wonder whether or not it’s all in her head… until about the halfway point because for whatever reason, Soderbergh decided to clue in the audience to the truth and the rest is more or less your standard suspense-thriller, but even so, it still was a solidly entertaining little film. Not sure how a movie like Unsane will hold up years from now, but for the moment, I found it to be a well done thriller excelling on the back of a fantastic performance from Claire Foy who has gained notice thanks to the Netflix television series, The Crown, and here she shows she can easily also carry a motion picture. Here’s to hoping to see more from this talented actress. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.0/5 |
This release comes with a title-embossed slip cover and inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. Unfortunately the only item included is Unsanity (4:26; HD) featurette with some behind-the-scenes footage. |
4K VIDEO – 4.75/5, BD VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
UPHE releases Unsane onto 4K Ultra HD and is presented in its original, and unusual, 1.56 side matted aspect ratio and a 2160p high-definition transfer. I have to say, this was an impressive looking picture especially considering the video source; detail looks incredibly sharp throughout and while it is dark in general, there is color that does pop out starting with the deep blue’s to begin the film to some intentional overexposed shots.
The Blu-ray itself is just as impressive, maybe not as much improvement to colors benefited on the 4K by the HDR, there are still some good boost here and there while black levels are fairly stark. |
4K/BD AUDIO – 4.0/5 |
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is generally satisfactory with clear dialogue levels throughout and some modest depth, though the impact is kept to a minimum. The bulk of the surrounds were used for the music or ambient noises either within the workplace or inside the mental hospital. |
OVERALL – 3.0/5 |
Overall, Unsane might not be the perfect or even greatest psychological thriller to come down the pike, it is a well made film, especially considering director Steven Soderbergh used an iPhone to shoot. Beyond the experimental aspect, the performance from Claire Foy was great and easily makes this worthy of at least a rental. This 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray combo release offers up great video and solid audio but the lackluster featurette was disappointing. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.