Alongside writers Gaddy Davis (Peter and the Farm) and John Rosenthal (Out of Our Minds), director Tony Stone (El Monte) crafted a searing portrayal of environmentalism gone deadly wrong. The morals of the Unabomber are published and he is in prison to this day, but the magic of Ted K is Sharlto Copley's portrayal of Ted Kaczynski filling in all the gaps. It's not just about Kaczynski’s lifestyle, but the mindset that led him down such a destructive path. At two hours long, Ted K drags at points but is never held down for long. The filmmaking is very strong, but it's Copley’s performance that sells it.
Ted Kaczynski (Copley) has lived off of the land for years and takes great pride in his detachment from technology and affinity for nature. However, he is far from altruistic. In fact, he is a misogynist, unable to keep a steady job, and relies on his family for money. He has the audacity to berate them with the same moral high ground he inflicts on society while begging them for money. All that being said, Ted is totally committed to the environment and its maintenance. So when dirt bikers drive onto his property, he throws rocks at them. When jets fly over the forest he lives in, he shoots at them… not so typical environmentalism. Ted has had enough and eventually begins locating and targeting his enemies — big oil, news corporations, and Penthouse magazine just to start.
At first, he just wanted to know if he was capable of using his Harvard degree to fashion a bomb. When he discovers the answer is yes, it is a crooked ride to the bottom as Ted begins mailing bombs across America for the next decade. Ted Kaczynksi turned his back on society and the world, which is fitting because he was active from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. It's been a long enough time that the word Unabomber is at best a flashpoint in history for some, but Ted K encapsulates the fear that still lingers at the mention of his name. Copley's performance is top notch. He is feverish with nervous energy, never calm and, on the rare occasions when Ted is comfortable, Copley is bleeding out of his eyeballs.
Ted only contacts his family when he needs money and when he does it's with the air of someone who thinks they know everything. Copley holds nothing back, declaring that industrialism will be the death of them all. His delivery doesn’t carry an ounce of self pity — rather, there is mirth as he cackles to the tune of his own psychosis. Even in moments where is just listening to the radio, Copley is wide-eyed and present as a radical environmentalist preaches, “Human beings are just another species among millions of others.”
As Copley delivers a mountain of exposition in a phone booth, Stone is fully aware viewers need a glass of direction to swallow a pill that large. The camera begins to spiral as Ted does. In constant 360-degree motion, save for cutting to close-ups, the scene starts with Ted begging for money so the camera relaxes before circling him like a pack of wolves. By the end of the scene, he is blaming his mother for his virginity and the camera is running around him at the speed of a Formula 1 race car.
With Ted K, Stone has easily made his best film to date. The director evokes empathy — within reason — in scenes where he follows the beauty of nature in the same shot Ted is overcome with hopelessness at the world and unloads bullets into a helicopter ready to drop a bomb in the name of natural gas. What Copley seems to be so aware of is that Ted is trying so hard to be what he wants (that is normal to him) instead of even considering being himself. Both the performance, the man, and the motive can be summarized when authorities approach Ted and he says, “I wouldn’t call it anything out of the ordinary though. I imagine if you were in my position you might act the same way."
Ted K is in theaters and on demand February 18, 2022. The film is 120 minutes long and rated R for language, some sexual content, and brief nudity.