Unstoppable (2010)

UNSTOPPABLE (CINEMA)

Release Date: November 24th 2010
Certificate: 12A
Running time: 98 minutes

Director: Tony Scott

Cast: Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson, Ethan Suplee, Jessy Schram, Kevin Dunn

On May 15th, 2001, an unmanned runaway train carrying hazardous materials ran for 2 hours at speeds up to 47 miles per hour through the U.S. state of Ohio. A second locomotive was able to catch up to it with a veteran train engineer and a conductor onboard who managed to couple onto its rear and apply its dynamic brakes, slowing it down to 11 miles per hour. From there, they were able to climb aboard the CSX 8888 and shut down the engine.

Taking inspiration from these events, Unstoppable reunites director Tony Scott and Denzel Washington for their fourth film together. Washington stars as the veteran train engineer, Frank Barnes who is paired up with new conductor Will Colson (Chris Pine). Their first day together is about to make headline news.

Earlier we see how the train manages to get away from one of the yard workers when he decides to leave the air hose between the locomotive and the rest of train unconnected to save time. Without the hose connected, the train’s brakes won’t work but assumes he will have time to connect it once the train is parked on another track. As he jumps out of the slow moving train to switch the tracks, the lever operating the speed of the train falls down and he is unable to get back on as it picks up speed, leaving him behind and the train unmanned.

Unstoppable is a fast moving film, filled with urgency. There are definitely moments of tension; such as when Will tries to manually couple their locomotive to the train and when the company attempts to derail it themselves before it reaches the densely populated areas. Carrying highly combustible material as well as severely toxic chemicals, the 777 train is essentially an armed missile the size of the Chrysler building. It becomes almost a character itself and scenes of it speeding along the tracks give you a sense that there is danger around every corner.

This alone though is not enough to make it a great film. While it shares similarities with previous Scott/Washington films such as Man on Fire (2004), Déjà Vu (2006) and The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009) in terms of character introductions, camerawork and the urgent need to stop an event from happening, what it lacks is character development and story progression. It also suffers from not having a clear antagonist working against them to get the job done due to the catalysts for these events being sheer negligence. It misses every opportunity to introduce a plot twist or revelation that could jolt its story and give the viewer something more to take away them than a movie about how to stop a speeding train.

If you’ve seen Man on Fire or Déjà Vu then Unstoppable might be a good ride, but ultimately you’ll feel it lacks the power to make it a great one like Scott’s previous films.