The Unforgivable

Sandra Bullock leaves behind Hollywood glamour with her stripped-back (and knowingly Oscar-baiting) dramatic performance in this update of the 2009 ITV series Unforgiven. She plays murderer Ruth Slater, who's just been released from a two-decade jail sentence for shooting and killing a sheriff. Her five-year-old sister disappeared into the system during her absence, and now Ruth is obsessed with tracking her down. It soon transpires that Katie (Aisling Franciosi) has been adopted and Ruth enlists lawyer John Ingram (Vincent D'Onofrio) to make contact with her new family. Unfortunately, trouble is brewing for them all as the dead sheriff's sons want revenge. Perhaps overlong at nearly two hours, the film boasts bleak, wintry cinematography that suits its downbeat story, while the simple plot does - thankfully - deliver a few jolts. For the most part, though, this is a vehicle for Bullock to be brittle, grieving and dour, which she does with such chilly precision that she's also rather unlikeable... but always watchable.