Unstoppable (**½)
Directed by: Tony Scott
Starring: Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson, Ethan Suplee,
T.J. Miller, Kevin Dunn, Jessy Schram
Seen: November 17th 2010
**½
Out of ****
Relative rookie Will Colson (Pine), a conductor, and 28-year veteran
Frank Barnes (Washington), a driver for AWVR (Allegheny and West Virginia
Railroad), go about their daily job basically consisting of driving containers
(empty or full, for today empty) between cities. Dewey (Suplee) and Gilleece (Miller)
are yard-working railway employees, moving trains around at stations where open
railways are needed, among other things. Dewey manages to screw up big time
when moving the 777 to a different track – leaving the unmanned train coasting
along the railroad picking up speed.
The 777 is half a mile long and loaded with 8 trucks of molten phenol,
a highly volatile and flammable liquid, and as the 777 picks up speed, AWVR
become more and more desperate, at first to save the cargo and what it will
cost them, but eventually to save Stanton, where the train is headed towards an
elevated curve in the track where speed is very undesirable. When all else
fails, saving the day falls onto Will and Frank to run the train in from behind
and stop it –no mean feat.
With an impressive list of medium to very strong action movies, Tony
Scott knows how to direct this sort of movie. Some of his earlier movies
include the lesser train movie also starring Washington, The Taking of Pelham
123; the stable Déjà vu (also Washington); the crazy Domino; the fantastic Man
on Fire (Washington again); as well as the taut spy movies Spy Game and Enemy
of the State, with more good ones before that too. He’s the master of the
quick-cut and he knows how to create tension from almost nothing. With
Unstoppable he reaches some of his pre-Pelham glory, but only to a limited
degree. The movie is engrossing and filled with action, and the trains are
menacingly presented, often filmed from a low angle and always seemingly going
near light-speed.
Denzel Washington is, again, rather good; a normal veteran giving the
rookie a bit of a hard time while coming closer to him in diversity. He has two
daughters at home who he doesn’t necessarily have the best relationship with,
but he’s working on it. Chris Pine opposes and compliments Washington well, the
rookie fighting for some recognition, both professionally and personally, as he
is trying hard to get back together with his wife, Darcy (Schram), and his son.
Rosario Dawson carries things along nicely as railway controller Connie, while
Kevin Dunn adds yet another argument against the corporate engine looking first
to save money and then only to save lives…
The movie is exciting and it feels good to reach the end you know from
the start the movie is barrelling towards. After walking out of the cinema you
do realise however, that not much happened and that everyone walks away pretty
lucky from this. Even though much of the movie is inspired by fact, some
liberties were taken for dramatic intent. Unstoppable is fun and instant
entertainment, but I believe it will blast through your head for a minute much
like the 777 blasts through a trailer at one stage, and then leave behind something
akin to empty tracks…
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