Film Review: UNIT 234 (2024): Isabelle Fuhrman and Don Johnson Face Off in a Unique Thriller with a Twisty and Occasionally Faulty Plot

Unit 234 Review

Unit 234 (2024) Film Review, a movie directed by Andy Tennant, written by Derek Steiner and starring Don Johnson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jack Huston, James DuMont, Christopher James Baker, Manny Galan, Juvian Marquez, Anirudh Pisharody, Rosemberg Salgado, Jenna Z. Alvarez, Jason Altman, Lia Lando, Amber Ashley Smith and Jim Wrigley.

Veteran film and television director Andy Tennant (Fools Rush In, Hitch) knows his way around a good story by now, and it’s not surprising that Unit 234, his new thriller is so entertaining to watch in his capable hands. What could have easily been a cheesy B-movie becomes immensely enjoyable as Tennant keeps the audience in suspense throughout. This film’s principal location is a storage unit facility which is operating late at night. Never mind that these places rarely open 24 hours, but for this movie, the fact that the place is open all night makes for an intense thriller that could keep viewers on pins and needles being the location lends itself to a creepy thriller such as this one.

Isabelle Fuhrman is Laurie Saltair, the owner of the storage facility. She has a philosophy degree, but she’s stuck managing the storage facility as her young co-worker (Jenna Z. Alvarez) decides to take off for the weekend that Laurie was supposed to go away with her boyfriend, Jordan (Anirudh Pisharody). It’s Laurie’s birthday and her boyfriend is upset that he won’t get to see her. To make matters worse, there’s a leak in one of the units that she needs to attend to followed by the fact that a mysterious man named Jules (Don Johnson) arrives to get into a unit owned by a dead guy named Benny (Rosemberg Salgado).

Laurie knows that Jules isn’t Benny although he’s certainly claiming to be. Also, in unit 234, there’s a man on a stretcher who is very much alive. He’s named Clayton (Jack Huston). Eventually, more people arrive and it’s clear that the vicious Julies is on a deadly mission to attain something. What it is isn’t made clear until late in the picture so I won’t spoil the fun by revealing those details here.

Soon, Laurie cuts the handcuffs off Clayton and puts her trust in him to help him escape the wrath of Jules. In the interim, Jordan starts to make his way to the storage unit to be with Laurie as something seems to be wrong. By the way, Laurie’s phone was cracked when she was fixing the leak in another unit in the facility.

Fuhrman (The Novice) is always reliable and has a freshness to her work that makes her a reliable heroine to root for. Fuhrman’s character makes some bad choices in regard to who she puts her trust in, but the movie does this for a reason and it doesn’t really let the last big trick out of the bag until the very last moments of the picture.

Don Johnson is amazingly menacing. He plays a guy hell bent on vengeance and Johnson comes up with one his most intense performances in some time. Johnson’s range as an actor has always been something to be commended and he gives a bone-chilling performance when it becomes crystal clear what his true motives are in regards to the man in unit 234.

Jack Huston’s mysterious character also keeps the viewer guessing. Why is he on a stretcher with a cut on his side suggesting people are after one of his organs? Something crazy is going on, and the viewer will enjoy the results as the movie brings in other potential goons and characters all trying to achieve something that Tennant doesn’t really let the audience in on too soon.

Unit 234 is a fairly good picture, but it’s undermined by a few factors. There’s some plausibility that Fuhrman’s Laurie would give up her plans to go with her boyfriend for the weekend to keep her very few customers happy, but there’s also too many haphazard decisions her character makes that seem to service the logistics and needs of the plot rather than reflect the way things would happen in real life. Laurie’s decisions don’t flow organically, but the movie’s suspense factor ups the stakes making it defeat the aforementioned problems with the script.

A little more of the story would have gone a long way. This location was a perfect fit for a thriller like this and watching characters run around a storage facility while getting tied up and beat up as well as shot up in the interim was a genius idea. I could picture a thriller like this being perfect in the hands of a big-time Hollywood filmmaker with a bigger budget. Still, Tennant is an old pro and keeps the audience guessing as the characters show their true colors as the plot reveals its big secrets. Unit 234 is passable for a night’s entertainment, but could have been more with stronger plot development and a little extra money in its budget.

Rating: 6.5/10

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