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My Magazine > Editors Archive > cat3 > Movie Review: <i>Unstoppable</i>
Movie Review: <i>Unstoppable</i>   by The Editor

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Let's do the math together: take one story based on a true event, start with a big action star (Denzel Washington), include a young dreamboat (Chris Pine, who was a big hit as Captain Kirk in <i>Star Trek),</i> throw in plenty of heavy metal (two gigantic locomotives hauling dozens of cars), embellish with an industrial setting in western Pennsylvania, mix in Rosario Dawson as a train yard dispatcher so the movie is not 100% male, include a bunch of helicopters and dozens of police cars, add a trainload of vulnerable, cute schoolchildren, then top it all off with thousands of gallons of diesel fuel on a runaway train loaded with a toxic chemical that is headed toward densely populated areas ‒ and what do you get for a grand total? A Tony Scott movie.

The brother of Ridley, Tony is the Master of Macho. (His brother is no slouch in the action genre either.) Tony's movies include testosterone-loaded titles with Denzel like <i>The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Deja Vu, Man on Fire,</i> and <i>Crimson Tide.</i> And those are only the ones with Denzel. Other action stars Tony has directed include Will Smith <i>(Enemy of the State),</i> Brad Pitt <i>(Spy Game),</i> Tom Cruise <i>(Days of Thunder),</i> and Bruce Willis <i>(The Last Boy Scout).</i>

<i>Unstoppable</i> is quite a ride. It doesn't compare with the brilliant <i>Runaway Train</i> with Jon Voight and Eric Roberts -- but it doesn't try to. It's one of the two best action movies of the year, the other being Ben Affleck's <i>The Town</i>.

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<i>Unstoppable</i> is actually straightforward. A lazy engineer violates multiple safety procedures. The result is an unmanned train with a deadly cargo hurtling at 70 miles per hour. Railway employees and officials, plus a federal safety inspector, try a variety of desperate measures to stop it.

Denzel is the grizzled veteran engineer, a widower with two pretty daughters. He and his old-timer coworkers are faced with layoffs, to be replaced by new hires working for a fraction of the usual salaries and benefits. Chris Pine plays the handsome conductor, one of those newbies. He has several big chips on his shoulder: wife troubles, legal problems, and his lack of experience as a new hire just out of training. Gradually, the conductor and the engineer begin to confide in and eventually trust each other.

The stakes in stopping the train are high: lost lives, a nasty toxic spell, a devastated city, and $100 million in damages. The pace, of course, is breakneck, the editing intense and the soundtrack explosive. We immediately get a visceral feel for the weight and power of these iron behemoths, although someone should put a damper on Tony Scott's fondness for incessant rack zoom shots.

Throughout, the stunt work is scary and thrilling. There are also superb visual sequences, like the runaway train barreling at top speed into a sharp, elevated curve next to fuel tanks in the middle of a city. The casting includes lots of good character actors in small but vital roles, many of whom you've seen before. And there's always Chris Pine…

If you like train movies, there are lots of good ones in various genres besides <i>Runaway Train: Narrow Margin</i> (1990) with Gene Hackman -- originally made in 1952, <i>The Professionals</i> with Burt Lancaster and Lee Marvin, <i>Murder on the Orient Express</i> with an all-star cast, <i>The Great Train Robbery</i> with Sean Connery, <i>Silver Streak</i> with Richard Pryor, <i>The Train</i> -- also with Burt Lancaster, and <i>The General</i> with Buster Keaton. Hitchcock alone made four terrific movies with trains: <i>North by Northwest, Shadow of a Doubt, Strangers on a Train,</i> and <i>The Lady Vanishes.</i>

Tickets, please.
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