Next time you’re on the platform waiting for a delayed and overcrowded train to arrive, it may be that you’re in the proximity of a Hollywood director known for his kinetic action and spasmodic editing, and an Oscar-winning actor who could open a movie at the box office by simply whistling for 90 minutes.
Why? Because this is the second consecutive train movie on which Denzel Washington and Tony Scott have collaborated after The Taking of Pelham 123. Up next will surely be a period piece on the Orient Express for these closet train spotters.
Loosely “based on true events,” Unstoppable is the adjective used to describe an unmanned cargo train hurtling toward a highly populated area while carrying a caboose load of toxic chemicals. It’s as simple as that.
Looking to act as a buffer to the impending catastrophe is the long-in-the-tooth engineer, Frank (Washington), and his reluctant upstart conductor, Will (Chris Pine), who must overcome political and personal problems to save the day.
Do not expect any Inception levels of brain stimulation with this—it’s action at the other end of the line in terms of intelligence, but that’s not to say it isn’t a thoroughly engrossing, ridiculously over-the-top 90 minutes. In fact, the final act is one of the most breathlessly exhausting sequences of the year.
Surprisingly, much of this is down to Scott’s schizophrenic shooting style, a visual technique that has hindered many of his previous movies. Yet here it actually benefits what is meant to be an exciting film about the most linear form of transport, with his fast edits and multiple angles.
He also upstages the likeably charismatic leads—Washington is on autopilot with his everyman role, and Pine proves that the Kirk appeal wasn’t a fluke—by making the train the real star of the movie. It is a roaring, hissing mechanical beast that stares down the camera with its anthropomorphized face and multiple nods to the ultimate vehicular monster from Spielberg’s Duel.
You’ll be annoyed that you climbed aboard and enjoyed it so much despite the ludicrously cheesy “you can do it” cutaways, cardboard cut-out corporate bad guys, the wasted Rosario Dawson, and the computer game carriage jumping … but enjoy it you will.
[etRating value=“ 3”]
Why? Because this is the second consecutive train movie on which Denzel Washington and Tony Scott have collaborated after The Taking of Pelham 123. Up next will surely be a period piece on the Orient Express for these closet train spotters.
Loosely “based on true events,” Unstoppable is the adjective used to describe an unmanned cargo train hurtling toward a highly populated area while carrying a caboose load of toxic chemicals. It’s as simple as that.
Looking to act as a buffer to the impending catastrophe is the long-in-the-tooth engineer, Frank (Washington), and his reluctant upstart conductor, Will (Chris Pine), who must overcome political and personal problems to save the day.
Do not expect any Inception levels of brain stimulation with this—it’s action at the other end of the line in terms of intelligence, but that’s not to say it isn’t a thoroughly engrossing, ridiculously over-the-top 90 minutes. In fact, the final act is one of the most breathlessly exhausting sequences of the year.
Surprisingly, much of this is down to Scott’s schizophrenic shooting style, a visual technique that has hindered many of his previous movies. Yet here it actually benefits what is meant to be an exciting film about the most linear form of transport, with his fast edits and multiple angles.
He also upstages the likeably charismatic leads—Washington is on autopilot with his everyman role, and Pine proves that the Kirk appeal wasn’t a fluke—by making the train the real star of the movie. It is a roaring, hissing mechanical beast that stares down the camera with its anthropomorphized face and multiple nods to the ultimate vehicular monster from Spielberg’s Duel.
You’ll be annoyed that you climbed aboard and enjoyed it so much despite the ludicrously cheesy “you can do it” cutaways, cardboard cut-out corporate bad guys, the wasted Rosario Dawson, and the computer game carriage jumping … but enjoy it you will.
[etRating value=“ 3”]
