Netflix's new crime thriller branded "a dud" jumps straight to top of trending chart

Unabomber, the new Netflix crime thriller starring Jacob Tremblay and Russell Crowe, has jumped straight to the top of the streamer's trending chart despite garnering negative reviews from critics.

The film sees Tremblay portray Ted Kaczynski, the man who would kill three people in a series of bombings between 1978 and 1995. After leaving his academic career in the late 1960s, Ted lived in the wilderness of Montana for several years.

The narrative is told across two timelines, with Tremblay playing the terrorist during his time at Harvard University in the 1950s. The other strand depicts the manhunt for Ted, with Shailene Woodley portraying FBI agent Joanne Miller.

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After being released on Friday (25 September), the true-crime thriller has performed well with viewers thus far, with it currently sitting at the top of Netflix's worldwide film chart (via FlixPatrol).

Despite that, it has been largely panned by critics, with Rotten Tomatoes currently reporting a lacklustre approval rating of 19% from 31 reviews. The audience score is a bit higher at 43%, at least.

"Janus Metz's film has some built-in intrigue from its subject matter alone, but rote dialogue and autopilot true-crime styling do little to fire the imagination," opined Variety, while TheWrap branded it as "a dud".

"Janus Metz Pedersen's scuzzy Kaczynski film is a hackneyed blend of true-crime drama and banal biopic tropes," noted RogerEbert.com, while IndieWire criticised the film's portrayal of the central figure despite praising Tremblay's performance.

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The Daily Beast was more positive, however, writing: "Using old news reports to keep the proceedings concise, Unabomber manages the not-inconsiderable feat of drumming up edginess from a famous story whose outcome is never in doubt."

In addition to Tremblay, Woodley and Crowe, the latter of whom plays Professor Henry Murray, the cast for the film includes Annabelle Wallis and Alexander Ludwig. Janus Metz Pedersen is the director, with Sam Chalsen and Nelson Greaves penning the screenplay.

Unabomber is streaming now on Netflix.

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Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media.  His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.