A runaway hitBy John DeSando, "It's Movie Time," "Cinema Classics," and "On the Marquee"
"This is Will Coalson, your conductor speaking, we are gonna run this bitch down."
Unstoppable is the runaway adventure of 2010, a story of an unmanned freight train inspired by a true story in Ohio, but played for the film in Pennsylvania. Director Tony Scott once again proves he's the top gun of action, following up last year's exciting Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 with the even better Unstoppable.
The idea of millions of pounds of a half mile long train hurtling at 80 miles an hour with a lethal chemical cargo through small towns of Pennsylvania is suspenseful enough, but add on the train company's inability to stop it, even derail it, and you'll have no nails left to bite after the first hour.
Scott works well with Denzel Washington, who plays conductor Frank, as he did the dispatcher in Pelham. Denzel brings the quiet, strong, humorous hero to contrast with Chris Pine's Will, a young conductor with personal issues that threaten to derail the working relationship. The film doesn't dwell on domestic challenges for either lead character, it moves to the action with the speed of the train.
The fleeting hints of character fit nicely into the corners of the larger action, just as they did in Runaway Train (1985), the other great story of power unleashed and unstoppable. Both films are action tour de forces with memorable albeit brief displays of humanity.
Director Scott's camera careens along, upside, and downside to give the feeling that we are trapped as well. The police and news helicopters give the right note of irony as these modern machines are helpless in the presence of brute force. Back at the control rooms, the company is consistent in bad decision making with only Rosario Dawson's Connie an authority with heart and soul.
That's what this frenetic film has: heart and soul, and that's what American directors like Tony Scott do best. With this kind of gravitas (besides the train's heft), I'd be happy to continue to award them aces.
John DeSando co-hosts It's Movie Time, Cinema Classics, and On the Marquee for WCBE 90.5. The shows can be heard streaming at http://publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/ppr/index.shtml and on demand at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/arts.artsmain Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.RR.com