Before I go into the movie too much, I'm going to say that I like director Tony Scott and several of the movies he's made over the years. There is nothing wrong with a director who finds a niche and sticks with it. Whole careers have been made off that premise. But in Scott's case, I'm struggling to think of a director currently working in Hollywood who has become more cliched, more of a stereotype of himself than Scott. His movies are good, mindless flicks that require no thinking at all. But seriously, I feel like I could do a movie for him with all his personal touches and audiences might not know the difference. Unstoppable is like that, one cliche after another. The movie isn't bad, but it's not good either.
On his first day at a new job as a train conductor for a railroad line in Pennsylvania, Will Colson (Chris Pine) is assigned to work with veteran engineer Frank Barnes (Denzel Washington) hauling 20 rail cars from one stop to another. Arriving at her office, yardmaster Connie Hooper (Rosario Dawson) receives a call that one of her trains is loose on the tracks with no one on board controlling it. The report says it's a coaster, a train that should be easily stopped, but it isn't. The half-mile long train is picking up speed, and with thousands of gallons of diesel fuel and seven cars of a dangerous chemical, it is becoming an immense missile heading into a highly populated area full of towns every few miles. All sorts of rescue efforts are brought up, but it may come down to Will and Frank riding their engine backwards, desperately trying to catch up to the runaway train, latch on and brake it before it derails. But is there enough time?
Yes, of course there's enough time. Did you really think a major studio release starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine was going to have a downer ending? Shame on you if you did. This has to be one of the most cliched movies I've ever seen. The trailer I'll link to later basically throws everything at the wall with the hope that something sticks, something makes the audience nervous. A train full of little kids is on the same track as the runaway train. A horse trailer is almost smashed to bits. Washington's character is about to be fired. Pine's character is having struggles back at the old homestead with the wife. There is nothing here that you won't have seen before. Nothing at all. It's never boring, but you certainly have that feeling of having been there and done that with countless other movies.
You can't chalk that all up to Scott because the script is obviously a major contributor to the damage. Some of it though? Oh, yeah, the blame goes on his shoulders. Tony Scott has a very distinctive, unique shooting style. His editing is fast, even choppy and hard to decipher at times, throwing countless quick cuts and images at you in an almost non-stop barrage. With a story like this, that is almost necessary. It keeps things going, adding to the sense of urgency settling in on all these people desperately trying to stop the runaway train. But just like the issues with the story, it's the same thing over and over again. If you saw Man on Fire, Taking of Pelham 123, Deja Vu, Spy Game, Enemy of the State (all movies I like and recommend), you've seen it all, and Scott feels like he's mailing it in here. Not the director's best work.
The saving grace amidst all the chaos is Washington -- one of Hollywood's most bankable stars -- being paired with Pine -- one of Hollywood's up and coming stars. In the worst movies, Denzel is worth watching, and that's no different here. He is as natural, as easygoing, as personable as any movie star I've ever seen. The fact that his character is basically a rehash of the one he played in Pelham 123 is a minor thing. His chemistry with Pine is great, their dialogue scenes so perfect you question if this movie could have been so much better if more time could have been focused on these two guys. I've had a crush for years on Rosario Dawson so I'll basically watch anything she's in. Her part is one that just about any actress could play, but she's good nonetheless. Also worth mentioning is Ethan Suplee as Dewey, the conductor who let his train go rogue, Kevin Dunn as a railroad exec trying to figure out what to do, Kevin Corrigan as a railroad safety expert helping Dawson, and Lew Temple as a railroad employee who may be a wild card in solving the situation.
Watching this based on a true story movie, I was never bored. How could a suicidal runaway train not be interesting, right? But that's it. There's nothing else. At 98 minutes, the movie felt stretched out, like Scott used everything he had at his disposal to get it to that length. The portrayal of the media coverage is interesting as incidents like this in the modern world of a 24/7 news cycle don't go unnoticed. But though it may try for all it's worth, the movie never amounts to anything other than mindless -- very mindless -- entertainment. Know what you're getting, and hopefully you'll get some enjoyment out of it.
Unstoppable <---trailer (2010): ** 1/2 /****
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