Judging from the pedigree of all involved, Unit 234 should be an instant thriller-movie home run. Leading actress Isabelle Fuhrman has become a veritable scream queen between her exciting roles as Esther in the Orphan franchise, Cell, The Last Thing Mary Saw, and Escape Room: Tournament of Champions. Though not a horror flick, I was still hoping the plot would be a bit more genre-adjacent. Instead, it relies on tired story twists and haphazard character work. There simply is not much to chew on when it comes to the grander narrative at hand. Emptier than the storage unit of its title, director Andy Tennant opens up a predictable pile of cliches in hollow Unit 234.
Taking time near the beginning to position Laurie (Fuhrman) as the lead character, screenwriter Derek Steiner establishes that Laurie is going through something of a quarter life crisis. Considering a serious move to Nashville with her longtime boyfriend, Jordan (Anirudh Pisharody, Cerebrum, Killer Competition), the only way for Laurie to fully get over the death of her parents may be a change of scenery. In order to pay the bills, she works for a storage unit company. As they say—wrong place, wrong time. When a grizzled older man named Jules (Don Johnson, Doctor Odyssey, Knives Out) shows up begging to be let into storage unit 234, Laurie’s night takes a turn from boring to downright problematic.
The tension builds quickly, as Laurie stands her ground when she realizes that Jules does not match the photo of the storage unit owner. Utilizing his posse of thugs, Jules will stop at nothing to get into that unit. Meanwhile, after she turns Jules away in the pouring rain, Laurie decides to check for herself to see what it holds inside. To her shock, Laurie discovers an unconscious body chained to a stretcher as the sole item inside. Clayton (Jack Huston, Boardwalk Empire, American Hustle) begs for Laurie’s help, as Jules and his henchman close in on them.
The plot quickly devolves into chaos involving mistaken identity, shootouts in the rain, abduction, torture, and a completely implausible twist that can be seen coming from a mile away. Any tension that had been built collapses under the weight of clumsy dialogue and forced plot turns that go out of their way to twist themselves into implausibility. There is nothing unique about the events as they play out, either. When it’s so easy to choreograph exactly what will happen, it becomes that much harder to actually care.
Alas, despite the best of intentions, Unit 234 lets down its central trio of compelling performers with a lackluster script and melodramatic musical score. A distinct lack of style makes it feel even more hollow than expected. A final showdown with garden shears plays more like a parody than a climactic moment. With more heft to its darker sections and a stronger dramatic vision, there could be something to it. As it stands, Unit 234 should just stay locked up for good.
Don’t forget your ID to unlock the secrets of Unit 234, opening up in limited release theatres and On Demand on Friday, May 9th.
