From "The General" to "The Lady
Vanishes", "Silver Streak" to "Murder on the Orient
Express", and "Runaway Train" (the best of the lot) to "Transsiberian"
I have always been a sucker for films dealing with trains and Unstoppable is a
film that seems to know its trains. It tells the story of a 1/2 mile steamer
that gets set on the loose due to "bad luck and human error." After
several failed rescue attempts, the prevention of the trains derailment lies in
the hands of a young conductor and an engineer on the verge of retirement. I
liked how the film used a lot of train jargon that was hard to follow, and only
cued us in on the basic need to know. I loved the how the setting of the film,
based on a true story, was rural Pennsylvania
and we get to watch the locomotive zoom through the foothills of the Appalachians . I am also fond of the cast as well: Denzel
being Denzel (a compliment, not an insult) playing the old engineer, Chris Pine
of the recent Star Trek, the lovely Rosario Dawson in command at the control
center. I also think this is a major success for Tony Scott, an action director
whose films often suffer from over-the-top and unnecessary visuals as well as
stupid supporting characters. Here all his characters click, and the real star
is the train itself and his camera beautifully and crisply captures it as it
races towards impending doom.
