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Review of film "UNSTOPPABLE "
Twentieth Century Fox has been putting a good deal of money into running trailers on TV for this Tony Scott movie. They make the film appear exciting-- but the reality is, it’s even BETTER than the teasers make it look!...
… The story starts out in a train yard in Pennsylvania. While some of the workers there are diligent, others are at times SLACKERS-- & one of those makes a number of screw-ups that cause a freight train to not have its AIR BRAKES connected & to not even have its ENGINEER on board…
… It turns out that the “fail-safes” end up being more FAILURES than safe, & the train starts barreling down the tracks at an increasingly high speed around the countryside. A female schedule-controller named Connie (ROSARIO DAWSON) tries to find a way to STOP the train-- but she has to deal with oblivious “big-shot” higher-ups like Galvin (KEVIN DUNN) & certain others who are either overly-concerned with the financial “bottom-line” or simply can’t properly get the job done…
… In time, the scene shifts to some other rail workers handling another train, in the form of long-time train engineer Frank (DENZEL WASHINGTON) & his new comparatively-young assistant Will (CHRIS PINE) who’s having marital troubles that distract his attention… Their train happens to be on the same track as the RUNAWAY train, & those two elements start to interact & shall-we-say “COLLIDE” with each other…
… It’s bad enough having a train out of control, but it’s at least doubly bad when it happens to have a number of its cars containing TOXIC CHEMICALS. As Rosario points out, it’s like having a traveling guided “MISSILE the size of the Chrysler Building”… Clearly, the train needs to be stopped (lest it risk badly injuring the populace near the train tracks)— but HOW?!...
… Those working in the train industry -- including another engineer named Judd Stewart (DAVID WARSHOFSKY) & safety inspector Wemer (KEVIN CORRIGAN) -- keep trying to come up with a SOLUTION to the problems: Can they stop the train by getting someone ONTO it?... Can they somehow CONTROL it?... Can they DERAIL it in a way that there won’t be massive damage to the area?... Can other train ENGINES be used to somehow affect its speed?...
… The movie is a wonderful THRILL RIDE of various attempts to fix the problems. You can bet that DENZEL & CHRIS will be involved, but it’s handled with exceptionally superior expertise: a friend of mine, whose father used to work in rail yards, commented that his dad would have LOVED seeing the film, since it does such a fine job in consistently giving you a feeling of the SPEED & POWER of the trains involved & what can go wrong if they’re not handled properly…
… It’s a FINE adventure, with well-constructed & highly-delineated characters, first-rate acting, an intriguing action-filled story, & I’d rate it 8.5 out of 10 stars…
Twentieth Century Fox has been putting a good deal of money into running trailers on TV for this Tony Scott movie. They make the film appear exciting-- but the reality is, it’s even BETTER than the teasers make it look!...
… The story starts out in a train yard in Pennsylvania. While some of the workers there are diligent, others are at times SLACKERS-- & one of those makes a number of screw-ups that cause a freight train to not have its AIR BRAKES connected & to not even have its ENGINEER on board…
… It turns out that the “fail-safes” end up being more FAILURES than safe, & the train starts barreling down the tracks at an increasingly high speed around the countryside. A female schedule-controller named Connie (ROSARIO DAWSON) tries to find a way to STOP the train-- but she has to deal with oblivious “big-shot” higher-ups like Galvin (KEVIN DUNN) & certain others who are either overly-concerned with the financial “bottom-line” or simply can’t properly get the job done…
… In time, the scene shifts to some other rail workers handling another train, in the form of long-time train engineer Frank (DENZEL WASHINGTON) & his new comparatively-young assistant Will (CHRIS PINE) who’s having marital troubles that distract his attention… Their train happens to be on the same track as the RUNAWAY train, & those two elements start to interact & shall-we-say “COLLIDE” with each other…
… It’s bad enough having a train out of control, but it’s at least doubly bad when it happens to have a number of its cars containing TOXIC CHEMICALS. As Rosario points out, it’s like having a traveling guided “MISSILE the size of the Chrysler Building”… Clearly, the train needs to be stopped (lest it risk badly injuring the populace near the train tracks)— but HOW?!...
… Those working in the train industry -- including another engineer named Judd Stewart (DAVID WARSHOFSKY) & safety inspector Wemer (KEVIN CORRIGAN) -- keep trying to come up with a SOLUTION to the problems: Can they stop the train by getting someone ONTO it?... Can they somehow CONTROL it?... Can they DERAIL it in a way that there won’t be massive damage to the area?... Can other train ENGINES be used to somehow affect its speed?...
… The movie is a wonderful THRILL RIDE of various attempts to fix the problems. You can bet that DENZEL & CHRIS will be involved, but it’s handled with exceptionally superior expertise: a friend of mine, whose father used to work in rail yards, commented that his dad would have LOVED seeing the film, since it does such a fine job in consistently giving you a feeling of the SPEED & POWER of the trains involved & what can go wrong if they’re not handled properly…
… It’s a FINE adventure, with well-constructed & highly-delineated characters, first-rate acting, an intriguing action-filled story, & I’d rate it 8.5 out of 10 stars…
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