Matialth
Good concept, poorly executed.
MusicChat
It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.
Gurlyndrobb
While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
scherryesq
This isn't a real review of this movie, but I wanted to respond to the reviewer who wanted to know what actually happened after the movie ended. Einhorn eventually got extradited back to the U.S., had another trial in PA in like 2001, represented himself, got convicted again, and was sentenced and is currently serving a life in prison term. For some reason, I thought he had since died, but according to Wikipedia, he is still alive. Wikipedia does have an interesting article on Einhorn and mentions this film. It's a fascinating story, to me, both as a Philadelphian who was here during his legal wrangling to fight extradition and as a lawyer.
SWAbuddy
I have read a previous comment on this movie, and yes it is a long movie, if it is watched all at once, like on Lifetime Movies. It was originally a two part mini-series. I think people need to remember the horrible death Holly Maddux endured. Ira Einhorn is in the public light where he loves to be, whether it is bad or good. Of course where he is concerned, their is no good. It is so important to remember Holly Maddux a young women who was trying to make a life for herself, never to marry, or have children, taken from this world at the hand of another, and in such a brutal murder. My family and I payed our respect to her grave just yesterday, along with the graves of her father and mother. We have never met the family but had such strong feelings this movie gave us, we felt compelled to find her marker and leave flowers. I hope this movie touches you the way it touched me and my family, and that you will remember HOLLY MADDUX the victim, the person, and remember the family who would not give up until justice was done. The hippie guru has now been sent home to face his crime and punishment from France. He does however get to have a new trial...Go figure...That ought to make for interesting watch as well. How can you plead innocent for something you ran from for 23 years. He's toast.
sydneypatrick
If you're looking to dissuade your daughters from the fella she adores but you think little of, have her sit through this. Ira Einhorn was a celebrity of the peace / earth movements of the 60s and 70s. Extremely well respected, his peacenik persona cloaked a darker side that hated women and thought very little of anything other than himself and his personal causes. When his long-time girlfriend Holly Maddux decides to leave him, she disappears and eighteen months later her decomposed body is found in a locked trunk in his apartment. Through it all, Ira maintains his innocence, doing his best to convince the world that the American Government set him up, that Holly's murder was done to 'embarrass' him. Out on bail, he flees the country and lives at large in the UK until being caught in the late 90s in France. The French, however, knowing he has been convicted in absentia of Holly's murder and faces life in prison without parole once returned to the US, refuses to extradict him. Apparently, a higher court overturned this decision and he is currently appealing a later order to be sent back. Kevin Anderson and Naomi Watts are superb as the leads; he gives you the shivers as he unveils the layers of a clearly narcissistic sociopath and she, simply, breaks your heart. How many promising young women have you known who fall victim to their own lack of identity and the whims of an abusive lover? Filmed as a tv miniseries, this is a three and a half hour vehicle for victim's rights. While the first half of this is used to set up Ira and Holly's dysfunctional relationship, the perspective of Holly's family, and the anguish they go through in trying to bring their daughter's murderer to justice, takes precedence in the second half. If the evidence weren't so damning against Ira Einhorn, this would be just another manipulative movie of the week (however well acted). As it is, it leaves the viewer haunted by the possibilities of a life brutally extinguished and infuriated by the fact that justice is continually skirted by the one person responsible for the crime.
mikesisk
A beautiful, intelligent, 21 year old woman meets a philandering activist charmer with a Jekyl and Hyde personality. 75% of the movie is about his powers of seduction -- of women, of students, of wealthy supporters -- through the strength of his IQ and his devotion to "peace" and liberal causes. It is never clear why the woman stays with him through all the abuse. He refuses to marry her, forces her to have an abortion, forces her to dance as a stripper to support him, keeps her from her family and friends, reads and marks up her journal (diary), insults her in public, etc. while he continues to play around. Some time after she disappears, his apartment is finally searched, and the woman's body is found there in a trunk. The film portrays the torment of her family, his eventual trial, and regrettably, his escape from justice where the movie ends unsatisfactorily.I normally wouldn't sit through a movie like this, especially for three hours, but because of the title, and his overt identification as "the unicorn" from the very first scenes, I kept hoping that he would be the one who was going to be killed, since he was such a jerk! Unless you are a fan of the male lead, or you enjoy character studies of "nice guy" psychopaths, skip this. Tom Skerit's role as the father who incidentally has a Nazi flag in his den, is disappointing (since we knew he could have solved the case in half the time if this were 'Picket Fences'). No other character portrayals are worthy of mention. Hope my review saves you from the same disappointment and waste of time.
