Russell Crowe’s latest project, Unabomber, has secured the top spot on Netflix’s domestic film chart just days after its September 25, 2026, release. Despite its commercial success, the psychological thriller has debuted to a polarized reception, marking a significant low point in the actor’s audience-rated filmography.
As of September 27, 2026, the film holds a 32% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. According to reporting from Forbes, this rating effectively ties with the 1995 sci-fi film Virtuosity for Crowe’s third-lowest audience score in a career spanning over three decades. Only 1996’s No Way Back and 2008’s Tenderness sit lower on the actor’s audience-rated record.
Directed by Janus Metz Pedersen, known for his work on Andor, the film explores the formative years and eventual capture of Ted Kaczynski. The narrative employs a split-timeline structure, focusing on the psychological experiments Kaczynski underwent at Harvard University under the supervision of Professor Henry Murray.
Historical Context and Creative Contention
The film features Jacob Tremblay as the young Kaczynski and Russell Crowe as Professor Murray. Central to the plot is the controversial MKUltra-linked research conducted at Harvard, which many historians and theorists believe played a role in Kaczynski’s radicalization. While the film’s “Mindhunter-esque” atmosphere has drawn a massive streaming audience, it has simultaneously faced criticism for its structural choices and historical liberties.
Despite the critical panning, Unabomber remains the most-watched film on Netflix as of the final weekend of September 2026. This disconnect between chart performance and audience sentiment highlights a recurring trend where high-profile true-crime dramatizations attract massive viewership regardless of their reception on review aggregators.
