Unstoppable (2010)

 

Unstoppable is a great tension-filled adventure involving a runaway train in Pennsylvania. Two goof-offs (played, appropriately enough, by Ethan Suplee and T.J. Miller) fail to follow the protocol for getting a train started, and so one loaded down with dangerous (flammable, toxic, etc.) freight heads off on its own and starts to gather speed on its own. Much of the film involves the attempts to slow down and/or stop the train before it reaches a dangerous curve in Stanton near some large fuel storage tanks, threatening a huge disaster if the train derails. Almost every attempt to stop it fails, including dropping a person from a helicopter onto the train and a ridiculous attempt by police to shoot out the shutoff switch (conveniently located near the fuel tank), until Denzel Washington’s Frank Burns and Chris Pine’s Will Colson decide to catch up to the runaway train with their engine. They figure they’ll either drag it to a slower speed or manage to pull it in the other direction… so long as all of the brakes hold out. Frankly, that’s enough to keep the interest of an audience, but Unstoppable burdens both Frank and Will with quite a bit of unnecessary back story. Frank’s wife has died of cancer, and he has two teenage daughters who are working at Hooters in order to pay their way through college. Will is under a restraining order and is unable to see his son except from a distance. Of course, we need a happy ending, a reconciliation at the end of the film, so we have to learn all of this, I suppose. And that’s not all: Frank, an engineer, is also being forced out of his career after 28 years, and Will is just beginning his work as a conductor, having finished his training only four months earlier. As an old-timer and a newbie, their banter and interaction before and during the crazy attempt to stop the runaway is fun and interesting, but it’s an action movie, so thankfully, the emphasis is often on the action more than the dialogue. There is a bit of a misdirect early in the film involving a train full of school children on a field trip. We are made to think that they will be in the most danger and that much of the film will involve saving them from a collision. However, what the film really emphasizes is Frank and Will’s rescue mission. It’s a thrilling movie overall, and it features good performances from Washington, Pine, and Rosario Dawson (in the typically thankless role of the person stuck in the central office who has to encourage Frank and Will remotely). There’s also a bit of fun business involving a welder named Ned (played with considerable gusto by Lew Temple), who drives his truck alongside the runaway train and is being followed by a series of police cars. Ned, however, seems to know what Frank and Will are going to do, and he’s there to make it happen (and claim some of the glory for himself). It’s a nice touch to the overall excitement of the film.

Oscar Nomination: Best Achievement in Sound Editing