Review: Unstoppable

UNSTOPPABLE won’t have you biting your nails off, but it may make you want to take a little comforting chew…

Trains don’t necessarily come off as scary, imposing forces, during our daily lives. But laden them with toxic chemicals and propel them at 70mph toward a town full of innocent inhabitants, and they become much more sinister, as the movie UNSTOPPABLE deftly shows.

The story starts off on what is seemingly just another day at the train yard, the night workers are ready to collapse in bed after their shift and the new day is ready to begin. However, things quickly head towards a downward spiral when the real life equivalent of the villainous Thomas the Tank Engine character, Diesel 10, rolls in all malevolent and ready to stir shit up. When two fool-hardy yard workers are asked to move the evil one, (known as 777) they manage to accidentally allow him to take off down the track, unmanned and in full throttle.

The next 99 minutes seem to speed by in direct correlation to the amount of miles per hour Triple Seven is doing, the action gaining and losing momentum in line with the locomotive’s progress. We are introduced rather hurriedly (but nevertheless, efficiently) to Will Colson (played by Chris Pine) and Frank Barnes (Denzel Washington). The former is a yellow-vested newbie fresh out of training and ready to take on the world, and the latter is rather cranky, probably because he is preparing for forced retirement. As they step aboard the 1206 train for their journey down the line, it becomes obvious these two have more differences between them than just their age, but they soon put all other problems aside when they discover they’re the only blue-collar workers standing between what is effectively a missile, and the nearest populated area.

Stars Chris Pine and Denzel Washington play off each other brilliantly, as two guys separated by economics, attitude and experience, who are drawn together by the possibility of a national disaster. But it’s Washington’s portrayal of Barnes, as the guy with a charming smile hiding a bitter soul, that steals The Fat Controller’s top hat (and the show). Rosario Dawson takes on the third lead role of Connie, and embodies the stressed out female station controller living in a male dominated world extremely well. These three characters take up the bulk of the screen time, with notable supporting performances from Kevin Corrigan and Lew Temple, but none can contend with the real star of the show, the inanimate beast that is the out-of-control 777, as it continually chugs its way towards impending doom.

Relentless nail-biting action is what this movie was made for, and serious credit has to be given to director, Tony Scott for providing some teeth-grindingly tense moments involving horses, small children on a railroad safety trip, and a couple of lead character close shaves that almost make you wonder who’s going to live and die. Stunt scenes like helicopter drops, 70mph train hops, and wild-style truck jumping have a dramatic impact that is liable to cause audible groans from the audience, and the choice to eschew CGI for the majority of the film gives it a raw edge that only serves to heighten the heart thumping (but not pounding) nature of the sequences.

Unfortunately these moments of brilliance are interspersed with guffaw-worthy Hollywood dialogue and emotional scenes that serve to moderately annoy rather than raise a heartfelt smile or tear. Just like Scott’s other train-themed movie, THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123, it feels as though something key is missing in the growth of the characters. Whilst the film excels in its death-defying stunts and daring action, it misses a dedication to character development that could have taken the drama up a gear. The peripheral characters, specifically the immediate families of Frank and Will, lack the back stories necessary to make an audience connect with their plight empathetically. Without this development, the corny scenes that plague the borderline anti-climatic ending don’t quite cut the emotional mustard.

The interspersion of fake news items also hinder the positive aspects of the film, the realist ethic of the movie takes a sharp denting from TV report segments that are over-stylised and largely unnecessary to furthering the storyline. At one point, the action is interrupted by a strangely placed list of written bullet points, voiced over by a reporter explaining their meaning, despite the previous dialogue already outlining this for all to hear.

Regardless of its faults, UNSTOPPABLE is a ground-level, sensory-heightened rollercoaster that won’t have you biting your nails off, but may make you want to take a little comforting chew. If you like your action high-octane, and enjoy the ringing sound of horns reverberating through your ear canals, then this is a definite goer.

B

UNSTOPPABLE is in cinemas Wednesday 24th November.