Cinema Unfolded

On Netflix · 2026-09-25 · Directed by Janus Metz

UNABOMBER

Two timelines, and an uneasy question of explanation.

UNABOMBER: Philippe Bosse / Netflix, official press still
Philippe Bosse / Netflix, official press still

Janus Metz's drama follows Ted Kaczynski's years as a young Harvard student alongside the later FBI search for the Unabomber. Jacob Tremblay plays the young Kaczynski, Russell Crowe his psychology professor Henry Murray, and Shailene Woodley the investigator Joanne Miller.

Critics’ measure: 55/100

First voices, based on 2 explicitly scored professional reviews; 6 reviews are linked in the full ledger.

Story and context

A story told across two periods

The film moves between a teenage Kaczynski at Harvard and the later investigation. The connection it draws between those periods belongs to the screenplay's interpretation of events.

Authority behind a closed door

Tremblay and Crowe play a student and professor whose encounters give the Harvard strand its central relationship. Annabelle Wallis plays Christiana Morgan, Murray's academic collaborator.

Drama, rather than documentary

Netflix identifies the film as inspired by true events. Its characters and causal suggestions should be approached as dramatisation, not as a substitute for a historical record.

Professional review ledger

Official trailer

UNABOMBER | Official Trailer | Netflix · Netflix