Sandra Bullock's remake of the ITV drama Unforgiven has been reviewed as a mediocre adaptation ahead of its Netflix debut next month.

The Unforgivable, which came out in US cinemas Wednesday (November 24), sees Bullock in the role of Ruth (played by Suranne Jones in the original), who is being released from prison after spending 20 years behind bars for murder.

As she reenters the real world, she encounters obstacles and animosity from the people of her town in Washington State (which takes over from dreary Yorkshire), especially when they find out she is a cop killer.

But her only aim is to find her sister Katy (The Nightingale breakout Aisling Franciosi, who was only five years old when she got locked away and has been living with an adoptive family ever since.

While that will violate the terms of her parole, with the help of lawyer couple John (Vincent D'Onofrio) and Liz (Viola Davis), who now live in her home where the murder was committed, Ruth will try to get close to Katy. But she's also harbouring a big secret.

sandra bullock, the unforgivable
KIMBERLEY FRENCH/NETFLIX

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According to IndieWire, who gave the movie a grade C: "The Unforgivable could have been a beat-for-beat remake of the original without any significant difference to its budget or distribution, and yet the final product often feels like watching someone try to squeeze Crime and Punishment into the length of an Instagram story."

Later on, David Ehrlich continues: "This erratic and emotionally diluted film is less interested in putting the justice system on trial than it is in exploring the painful ways that people fight to protect themselves and their families against the fact that life goes on, even if not for everyone."

Speaking on how well the adaptation fares, Variety commented: "The story translates well enough in cultural terms, though its density of plot elements ends up feeling more contrived in this compressed feature format."

While calling the movie a "sturdy drama-cum-thriller that should prove another Netflix hit", the publication's critic Dennis Harvey explained how The Unforgivable "plays out engrossingly enough until the last half-hour or so. At that point, too many plot twists strain credibility, from one hitherto reasonable character's abrupt unravelling to the ultimate revelation of a 20-year-old secret.

"The Unforgivable wants to confront various bitter truths, but piles so many on top of each other, they turn into melodrama."

sandra bullock and vincent donofrio the unforgivable netflix
KIMBERLEY FRENCH/NETFLIX

Praising Bullock's performance, Deadline's Pete Hammond commented on how the actress "goes places I haven't seen her attempt before, and the rewards are rich".

"The Unforgivable provides Bullock an understated role in which there are long stretches where she barely has dialogue, but in her frequent pained silences you know exactly who she is, if not quite how she got there."

The Hollywood Reporter, who called the movie "an engrossing enough redemption drama" with "strong cast and tightly focused direction", mostly disagrees with the previous point saying how: "The biggest hurdle facing The Unforgivable is that we've seen more effective versions of downbeat stories like this before.

"Bullock's performance does'’t come close, for instance, to the punishing psychological exploration of Kristin Scott Thomas as a woman struggling to readjust to society after 15 years' incarceration in the haunting 2008 French drama I've Loved You So Long."

viola davis, the unforgivable
KIMBERLEY FRENCH/NETFLIX

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Giving the movie two stars were The Telegraph's Tim Robey and The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw.

The former one commented on the 10-year-long production that saw Angelina Jolie first cast in the role and explained: "Knowing all these stop-start circumstances is the only way to make sense of a strange, broken film which never ties its story satisfactorily together: actors in the supporting cast come and go according to curious screenwriting whims that leave us scratching our heads. It's never outright bad – not unforgivably so – but comes off muted, diffuse and generally half-baked."

While according to the latter: "The plot's twists and turns, which were manageable in a three-part TV drama, look contrived and unlikely in a feature film and Bullock has little to do but look self-consciously solemn and martyred for the entirety of it."

The Unforgivable comes out on Netflix on December 10.


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