Variety says Netflix’s “Unabomber” fails to connect Kaczynski’s first year at Harvard, where he is recruited into a professor’s psychological study, with the FBI’s final year of investigation. The review calls the drama formulaic and unconvincing.
The film casts Harvard professor Henry Murray, played by Russell Crowe, as recruiting Kaczynski and other students into debates with a deliberately abusive opponent so researchers could observe their reactions. Variety calls the study unethical and the film’s suggestion that it helped spur Kaczynski’s later bombings tenuous; Kaczynski later said the experience was unpleasant but not formative.
The FBI strand centers on fictional agent Joanne Miller (Shailene Woodley), who spots linguistic quirks in Kaczynski’s manifesto as a clue. The film also depicts the young Kaczynski as showing signs of schizophrenia; Variety says neither reveal delivers much dramatic impact and singles out Crowe as the film’s most compelling performer.
