Unthinkable (Gregor Jordan, 2010)

Unthinkable would be a significantly flimsier film without the casting of Samuel L. Jackson on top menace setting and Michael Sheen on full squirm, playing respectively the interrogator and the terrorist. The former will do anything necessary to squeeze the truth out of the latter about the bombs he claims to have planted in various cities; the latter anything to hold fast to his impending martyrdom, which is as a fanatical converted Muslim, just to make things straightforward. Of course, the film would not have to be so reliant on the magnetism of the pairing if it had any real political depth vis-a-vis the scenario. As it is, it holds up as a workmanlike thriller with what subtleties there all arising from Sheen's character grappling with his motivation while Sheen skirts around what his actorly motivation might be.

5/10