Unstoppable

Welcome to another episode of Lights....Camera....Popcorn!

Today's review is Unstoppable. Directed by Tony Scott. Written by Mark Bomback.

100th review countdown....#92

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of action and peril, and some language.

Runtime: 98 min

Cast

Denzel Washington - Frank

Chris Pine - Will

Rosario Dawson - Connie

Ethan Suplee - Dewey

Kevin Dunn - Galvin

Kevin Corrigan - Inspector Werner

Kevin Chapman - Bunny

Lew Temple - Ned

T.J. Miller - Gilleece

Tony Scott re-teams with Denzel for his 5th film and this time it's another train movie. After The Taking of Pelham 123 I figured why go this route again, but just like Pelham, this one works for what it's worth.

Based on true events that took place in 2001. On May 15, 2001, a 47-car CSX locomotive left a Toledo, Ohio rail yard without an engineer and wasn't stopped until it had run 66 miles through three counties. No one was injured in the incident. This of course isn't good enough for Tinseltown so the story was punched up a bit.

In this version, the train is carrying several cars filled with a toxic chemical that if exploded would create catastrophic damage to neighboring Pennsylvania towns. Frank is a 28 year veteran train man and on this day he's breaking in Will, a rookie conductor who catches some immediate heat because he's got very influential friends that many believe is the reason he got the job in the first place. The relationship between Frank and Will gets off to a very rocky start but all of that changes when they hear about the runaway train. Realizing that the company's efforts to stop the train will fail, Frank and Will go after it and try to stop it themselves.

This movie is about as cut and dry as you can make it. This is actually a very good thing. A lot of times with movies like this where the story is very simple, the creative brain trust just takes it to a whole other level and strip away what makes the project worth doing and replacing it with a lot of pomp and circumstance. That doesn't happen here. The screenwriter here uses the K.I.S.S method and it works.

There are of course some filler scenes that moves the story along like the predictable failed attempt to stop the train that the greedy company executives employ in order to avoid property damage and lawsuits. Those scenes don't take anything away. They actually help because they were executed properly. The corporate scenes are not filled with evil villain, mad scientist type characters. Instead they are played like very greedy, lazy suits that just want to solve the problem in the most cost effective way. Those scenes inspire disdain toward those characters which is exactly the point but it's not overblown.

The most fun part of this movie is the speed. Tony Scott once again employs his hyper kinetic camera work and lightning quick editing style and it looks very cool here. You really get a feel for how fast the train is going and how fast everyone is going while in pursuit. The destruction the train leaves in it's wake as well was impressive and again not over stated. This movie was probably one of the most understated, high powered action movie that's been made in a while and it works. I wish I could explain why that is....it just is.

On the 5 star scale. Unstoppable gets 3 stars with a "Go See It" recommendation.

You're not going to be overly floored by this one but for what you're getting into here it's a very entertaining 90 minutes of fast, simple and impressive action with 1,000 tons of steel as the star.

That's a wrap for today. Got a few ones lined up in the upcoming days/weeks. Here they are in no particular order.

Fair Game
The Next Three Days
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows
127 Hours
The King's Speech

Until Next Episode...."I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"