unstoppable

Unstoppable
Directed by: Tony Scott
Starring: Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana
By: Nevra Azerkan
Rating:

I saw an advance screening of Unstoppable at the Fox Studio lot. Going in to it I knew the short synopsis of the story, but I had neither high nor low expectations. I figured with Denzel it would be fairly decent even with the odd pairing of newcomer, Chris Pine. But I was pleasantly surprised.

Unstoppable starts off with Will Colson (Chris Pine) having legal trouble, presumably regarding not being able to see his son (this is later fully explained). He goes to work as a conductor of freight trains and is partnered up with Frank Barnes (Denzel Washington), a 28 year train veteran. Tension between the two is apparent; the old timers are not happy with the young newbies taking their jobs and the rookies are tired of the crap from the pros. In the meantime, another set of engineers did not secure brakes on their train and because they did not follow protocol the train takes off unmanned after unsuccessfully trying to stop it. A series of stop attempts are put into place, one by one failing. Higher ups are risking the lives of many people in order to save the big bucks. After hearing about the runaway train, that is now going at full speed and not to mention contains combustible toxins that could wipe out the city, Frank and Will set out to stop it with the help of lower management, Connie Hooper (Rosario Dawson).

Unstoppable lives up to being a suspenseful thriller. I don’t think anyone can watch this without being on the edge of their seat the entire time. Denzel’s character livened up the storyline at the right moments. You needed those laughs in between some of the intense and almost cringe worthy scenes. I haven’t seen Chris Pine in that many roles, but he held his own as much as one can next to Denzel. Dawson’s character was about doing the right thing to save people and she confidently portrayed a likable character. Though the acting greatly contributes to the success of the film, the shots of the train at various angles ( a Tony Scott trademark) coupled with blaring audio of the train and crashes was phenomenal. Without this there would be no movie.

Unstoppable is a thrill seeking movie that provides the intensity, humor and has an overall feel-good quality about it. Don’t be fooled into thinking this is just a boring train movie because Unstoppable will keep you enthralled throughout the entire ride.