Star cast: Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson
Advertisement
Director: Tony Scott
Advertisement
What’s Good: Denzel Washington’s realistic portrayal of a courageous motorman; the engaging and exciting script; the racy cinematography and editing.
What’s Bad: The climax – the audience will expect the film to end in a more dramatic fashion.
Verdict: Unstoppable has excitement but not much novelty.
Loo break: None. Even if you have to go, you will not!
Twentieth Century Fox’s Unstoppable is a fast-paced action thriller about two courageous railroad employees who manage to control an unmanned runaway train carrying a cargo of toxic chemicals, before the train hits a populated town.
Will Colson (Chris Pine) is a conductor in the Allegheny and West Virginia Railroad (AWVR), US, and Frank Barnes (Denzel Washington) is an engineer. While Will is new on the job, Frank has been serving the company for 28 years and has been recently fired from his job and is now serving his notice period. Frank and his other colleagues resent Will getting a job due to his family connections. Frank and Will are, nevertheless, working together for the day and they set about their day’s tasks in the southern Pennsylvania town of Stanton, from where they board their locomotive for a Zinc plant.
Meanwhile, in Fuller Yard in northern Pennsylvania, a pair of hostlers (locomotive handlers) is moving a half-a-mile-long goods train to another track so that a school children’s excursion train can get out of the yard. In a hurry, one of the hostlers, Dewey (Ethan Suplee), starts moving the train without the air brake on. He turns the throttle to its highest setting to activate the train’s dynamic brakes and gets off the engine in order to manually switch tracks. While he is outside, the levers fall in the cab of their own accord and Dewey cannot reboard the train. The train has now gained speed and it leaves Fuller Yard for the main line, unmanned. Yardmaster Connie Hooper (Rosario Dawson) finds out that they have a runaway train on the main line, with trains coming from the opposite direction, and she assumes that the dead man’s switch will trigger the brakes and that the train will stop after a few miles from the yard. She asks the hostlers to follow the train and calls Ned (Lew Temple) to meet the hostlers where they can get in his truck, catch the train and stop it.
By the time the three get at the destination, they realise the train is under power and going too fast to catch. Back at Fuller Yard, Connie realises that the runaway train is hurtling down the main line at full speed, with some of its tank cars having molten phenol, a hazardous material. She and her superior at the railroad company, Michael Galvin (Kevin Dunn), fight about how to stop the train. The company’s plan of stopping the runaway train by derailing it fails; as does its misguided attempt of putting two locomotives on the line ahead of the runaway and slowing it down; a marine also attempts to board the runaway’s locomotive from a helicopter, but this too fails. All this, in the meanwhile, becomes a media event after the train smashes through a horse trailer caught on the tracks at one junction. When Frank and Will avoid a head-on collision with the runaway by a whisker, Frank devises a novel plan – they will follow the runaway in their locomotive in reverse, and latch on to the train’s last car, thus trying to slow it down. Even though they are dissuaded, even warned about being fired, they go ahead with the extremely dangerous plan. Do they succeed? What happens when the train hits the populated towns on its path? The rest of the film and the climax answer these questions.
Script & Screenplay
The story and screenplay of Unstoppable , loosely based on a real incident that happened in the US, are brilliantly written by Mark Bomback. There is no dull moment on screen despite the drama regularly switching between different locations. The audience will not find a moment’s relief as they will always be wondering what is going to happen next, if the runaway train will hit something or someone. Frank and Will’s heroism, in spite of their personal tragedies and in the face of great danger to their lives, is inspiring for the audience. There is also enough excitement in the drama to keep one on the edge of the seat; the runaway train misses hitting the multiple trains and people by a whisker. There is one letdown though – the climax falls somewhat short of the buildup to it.
Star Performances
Denzel Washington is excellent as Frank Barnes. He delivers a spirited yet realistic performance. Chris Pine is good as the amateur and vulnerable Will Colson. Connie Hooper, as the committed and honest yardmaster; Lew Temple, as the adventurous Ned; and Kevin Dunn, as the corporate executive, are all good. Ethan Suplee, as Dewey, the errant hostler, looks obese and just the kind of guy who would let a train run away by itself! Jessy Schram is alright in the role of Will’s wife. Jeff Wincott (as Jesse Gordon), Michael Shatzer (as Tony), Elizabeth Mathis and Meagan Tandy (as Frank Barnes’ daughters) and T.J. Miller (as Gilleece) lend good support.
Direction & Editing
Director Tony Scott is the real hero of the film. He manages to play with the audience’s minds very well. He proves yet again that he can make brilliant cinema after directing films such as The Taking of Pelham 123, Deja Vu, Man On Fire and Spy Game.
The film’s technical aspects are very good. Original music by Harry Gregson-Williams is excellent and adds to the tension in the film. Cinematography by Ben Seresin is excellent, considering that most of the film’s shots are of moving train/s. Editing, by Robert Duffy and Chris Lebenzon, is racy and does not allow any dull moment. The visual effects, by Asylum VFX, have been used abundantly, but they will remain undetected by the audience.
The Last Word
On the whole, Unstoppable is a fair entertainer, in spite of a disappointing climax. The audience will love the film’s dangerous side and will lap it up. Like a dialogue from the film, “This ain’t training. In training they just give you an ‘F’. Out here, you get killed.”
Advertisement
