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Unit 234 -- a review

When I first heard about Unit 234, I initially thought it was a war movie about an infamous unit that did war crimes. But then I saw the title referred to a unit in a storage facility. This storage facility is owned by a young woman named Laurie (Isabelle Fuhrman), who inherited it from her deceased parents. Laurie is settling in for an extremely rainy evening at work when she's visited by an older man named Jules (the always good Don Johnson), who claims to have lost his key to his storage unit, and he'd like for Laurie to give him another one.

But when Laurie checks his account, she clearly sees that Jules isn't who he claims to be. And that's when the fun begins. I'm tempted to say that Unit 234 is another Die Hard ripoff, and it certainly fits into that sub genre of a hero battling villains in a specific and claustrophobic setting, but Unit 234 winds up being much better than most of the Die Hard wannabes. Don Johnson (Miami Vice, A Boy and His Dog) gives a good performance here as Jules, a wealthy and powerful man with a singular goal, and who will stop at nothing to get it.

Isabelle Fuhrman is also very good as the spunky heroine who finds herself in the unenviable position of defending her home and place of business from a heavily armed goon squad. Fuhrman is best known for playing the killer kid (?) in the Orphan movies. It's great to see her in a film where she's normal-sized, and it's also a nice touch that her character doesn't turn out to be a former Navy SEAL, or whatever. Fuhrman excels at playing a regular woman who's caught up in extraordinary circumstances, and her character rises to the occasion without turning into a wild-eyed maniac relying on their Navy SEAL training that you'd normally see in a typical action flick.

And it's not just the main characters who are well served by Derek Steiner's smart script. Even the minions being employed by Jules are all well fleshed out. And the capable direction by Andy Tennant (Fool's Gold) keeps the pace pumping within Unit 234's tight 87 minute run time. The film even comes with a great twist that doesn't come out of nowhere. Unit 234 was so good that I wanted to rewatch it again once it was over. Give it a shot, and you might do the same. --SF

--SF

Unit 234 is available on streaming and physical media.
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