Unstoppable Review

(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

 Loading ...

“This is Will Colson your conductor, we’re gonna run this bitch down.”

Out of context this sounds like the most cliche line ever to grace the silver screen, but by the time you reach this point in Unstoppable, the film will have taken you an a ride of ruthless suspense, insane action and unbearable tension… And that’s only the first half of the film.

Now there will be those who contest that the movie just tries to throw every cliche in the book at you. Things like the fact that there just happens to be a train full of school children on the same track as the unstoppable train, or how at one point a horse trailer gets stuck on the track. But by the time these elements are introduced, you are so sucked in to the path of destruction this train is leaving in its wake that you completely forget how cliche it all really is.

The reason Unstoppable works so well can be contributed to two major factors, the first of which is Chris Pine and Denzel Washington.

Will Colson and Frank Barnes are an extremely likable, though dysfunctional pair. And despite again being so cliche in their set up (both having broken families), by the time the movie gets to their respective “hero moments,” you can’t help but sit in your chair and cheer them on as they try to tame the ultimate man made beast. And the reason the cliches go unnoticed? It all has to do with Tony Scott.

Scott really tried to deliver on the thriller part of action/thriller. Unlike the enjoyable but insane Taking of Pelham 123, Unstoppable is a slow build. It takes a good fifteen to twenty minutes for the unmanned train to actually begin rolling, but once it does the movie never lets you go.

He also remains mostly restrained in his camera work. Most of the “crazy” cinematography doesn’t begin until the action does. Unlike Pelham which maintained the intense feel from the first frame until the credits.

Another contributing factor to the success of Unstoppable is its side characters. Connie Hooper played by Rosario Dawson, Galvin played by Kevin Dunn, Dewey played by Ethan Suplee and Ned Oldham played by Lew Temple. All of these people bring to the table performances that make me care about the 100 minutes this out of control train is on the track.

The best of those performances is provided by Lew Temple. Despite being portrayed as a cliche rough neck, you just want to cheer Ned on as he tries to get ahead of the train. And when he shows up in the final act to give Chris Pine his moment of gory, all you want to do is jump through the screen and give him a giant high-five.

But of course the star of the film is the one that doesn’t speak a single word. The unstoppable, faceless train that’s about to destroy a nice portion of Pennsylvania. What makes it work is that the train looks like something coming straight out of hell itself. It’s massive, it’s red and it’s loud. All of these elements give off a real sense of unrest when you look at it. It takes a very skilled film maker to make the audience fear a faceless, nameless enemy. And Tony Scott pulls it off with grace and veracity.

What makes Unstoppable great is that you let it be what it’s trying to be. A fun, intense ride of emotion and suspense. And despite not having the most intelligent script, everyone and everything in it makes the film work on a level that no one could have foreseen.

9/10