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After rail workers lose control of a train and it begins barrelling down on rural towns in Southern Pennsylvania veteran rail worker Frank Barnes and Rookie Will Colson are the last hope in tracking it down before it destroys towns and becomes the biggest tragedy in rail history.
Unstoppable is what I would define as a standard action flick. You know the premise, you know there will be tense moments and you know that are only two real possible outcomes. Why I say standard action flick, is because there are going to be attempts mid way through the film to stop this runaway train, but because this plot is focused on the train and it being on the run, you know these attempts are more then likely going to fail. It’s the industry, it is how movies like this play out because there storyline is too predictable and concrete that there is no open space for having a shocking plot device thrown in the middle. Now this is not a bad thing, because films like this are often what they appear to be, suspenseful and nerve racking.
We have Frank Barnes and Will Colson, the last two people who can stop the train attempting to do so. They speed through towns and farm land in order to catch up with this train, and during these moments they begin to tell their life stories. Both characters are going through rough patches, and are opening up because they have no idea what the final outcome will be. This becomes another standard aspect of the action flick, two characters that see themselves facing impending death so they reluctantly begin to accept the others faults. Unlike many action flicks, however, this flick has two lead actors capable of keeping the dialogue about life and its hardships simple and authentic. Denzel Washington and Chris Pine build this relationship between Frank and Will that is a bit on edge at first. Frank seems to be this bitter veteran and Will seems to be this overconfident rookie. We learn some things about Frank later on and Will reveals some things about himself as well that bring their relationship to a new level.
Unstoppable goes the way everyone thinks it will, right from start to finish. You see the worry, you see the brute force of the train as it does damage, and we see a bit of the impossible as Frank and Will try and stop it. There were a few things that were completely unnecessary at points in the film. Director Tony Scott attempted to get the shot from above and it was played off as news choppers covering the action. Not a bad decision, but they had all these faux news reports from the ground saying somewhere along the lines of “Breaking news, Runaway Train is barrelling towards Stanton” and yes it may have added realism, but I think that you run one or two of these and show Frank and Will’s loved ones realizing what is happening and then be done with it. They had one of these faux reports atleast every 5-10 minutes, and it got really annoying. After a while it seemed like the production team was trying to remind us what is happening, but the storyline was not at all hard to follow. It was a simple plot, and it should have had simple shots to show it unfold. The chopper shots were good at times, but even the news action cop out got a bit old after a while.
Don’t get me wrong, Unstoppable is one of the better action flicks I have seen in the past couple of years, very much because Tony Scott got Denzel Washington to star in the film. Other than just Denzel, for the most part Unstoppable does not have too much unbelievable action, but it does have the inevitable it will come down to the last minute suspenseful ending. What bothers me is that with action flicks it all just resolves and then everything is happy with the main characters like their was no issues with their lives before this event took place. Yes I understand that these situations that take place would be eye opening experiences and make you appreciate life, but I don’t understand how everything goes from being challenging to it all being so easy for these characters. Maybe I am reading too far into it, because it really just a simple flick.
I recommend Unstoppable to anyone who likes a simple movie with a great cast and engaging and suspenseful action. It is a good movie despite the flaws that are associated with it.
6/10
