Loss of life of a Unicorn finds lawyer Elliot Kintner (Rudd) and his daughter Ridley (Ortega) arriving in Canada to fulfill on the large rustic property of Elliot’s wealthy, potential employers, the Leopold household. Patriarch Odell Leopold (Richard E. Grant) is terminally sick and seeks a authorized skilled to help his loving spouse Belinda (Téa Leoni) and fool son Shepard (Will Poulter) in sustaining his empire after his passing. Elliot is due to this fact a candidate to information the corporate belief, however the Leopolds gained’t be capable of make a remaining dedication till he proves himself a real household man, getting alongside together with his daughter even after the premature demise of his spouse and Ridley’s mom.
The teenaged Ridley’s involvement on this journey is as inexplicable because the presence of the unicorns themselves. She is conjured solely to supply an emotional arc for the Kintners and to function a younger, vaping foil to the outrageously rich Leopolds. Fortunately, the movie breezes previous that contrivance shortly. Displaying seasoned judgment in his directorial debut, Scharfman ensures that Loss of life of a Unicorn honors its title instantly, with Elliot’s rental automotive making mincemeat of the poor pony earlier than the opening title card. Not understanding what else to do, the Kintners pack the corpse away within the trunk and proceed on to the Leopold property. Unbeknownst to them, unicorns have outstanding therapeutic properties. What’s extra, they share one thing in widespread with fellow legendary creature Vin Diesel: they’re all about household.
As each a love letter to sensible results and a proof-of-concept for badass unicorns, Loss of life of a Unicorn works splendidly. These hand-crafted critters are correctly imposing and fairly likable, particularly as they start to sow bloody chaos within the Leopold property. Scharfman and firm additionally correctly decide to not reinvent the monster film wheel, borrowing liberally from Spielberg to instill a way of mythological menace. “It seems to be just like the shark fin from Jaws,” Ortega beforehand instructed Den of Geek. That comparability proved to be apt.
Relating to the remainder of the storytelling, nonetheless the movie is much less profitable. Rudd and Ortega’s utility to Loss of life of a Unicorn largely begins and ends with them inking their names on the contract to draw a distributor. Elliot and Ridley are just too generic for even these preternaturally charming, honest-to-goodness film stars to enliven.
The remainder of the forged fares higher with their extra archetypical roles. Will Poulter additional establishes himself as among the many finest within the biz at portraying haughty dipshits (see additionally: Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3). The mere sight of his character’s stilted strolling gait was sufficient to impress beneficiant laughter from a packed auditorium on the movie’s SXSW premiere. Anthony Carrigan, Sunita Mani, and Steve Park additionally discover inventive buy because the Leopold household’s tormented home helpers.
Even at a comparatively brisk 104-minute runtime, Loss of life of a Unicorn sometimes feels slowed down by ineffective pathos and by-the-numbers satire. Nonetheless, the movie is aware of it has the products with its violent unicorn premise and doesn’t let it go to waste. Ultimately, it’s a horse with a horn and that’s all it must be.