Unstoppable

"Unstoppable," based on true events, was directed by Tony Scott.  It stars Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson, et al.

Although it is based off of an incredible, true story, the names, location, among other things were changed.  The plot surrounds a railroad company, in Pennsylvania that is trying to stop an unmanned train that is cruising through the countryside with lots of dangerous chemicals onboard.  Some idiot decided to abandon his post on the train and not brake the massive vehicle correctly.  Naturally, Denzel Washington and Chris Pine are available, as Frank Barnes and Will Colson, to try and save the day.  Barnes has been a railroad engineer for 28 years and Colson is just starting his wonderful career as a train conductor.  Right from the start you know the movie is going to end one of two ways, but that shouldn't take away any enjoyment from it.

The two lead actors are phenomenal.  With Denzel Washington that a given, because he is a incredible actor.  He takes on the lead role of veteran, widowed railroad engineer.  He's tough, but as the movie progressed I felt sympathy for him.  Chris Pine, who I had only seen before in "Star Trek,"proved himself to be quite an actor.  He is much younger and inexperienced and his character of Will Colson is in many ways the opposite of Frank Barnes.  He also has some family problems, involving a restraining order and other fun things.  These two actors have natural chemistry with each other.  Almost every scene involved them interacting in some way, usually in rather tight quarters of a train, so the dialogue and acting between the two had to come off as believable.  Rosario Dawson, as the train dispatcher, has the next most important role after the two leads so I will mention her briefly.  She plays a extremely strong, competent woman, who is in charge of many of the decisions regarding stopping the train, and talking with people who can help.  The rest of the cast are not as prominent as these three.

The cinematography is among the movie's strongest aspects.  The film, for the most part is beautifully shot.  Tony Scott and the director of photography really racked their brains for ever possible way of keeping a runaway train interesting for slightly over an hour and a half.  In my opinion they were completely successful.  First, you have the every popular aerial shots of the train blasting down a stretch of railroad.  This is good to get a nice wide shot and to show how vast an area we are dealing with.  My personal favorite shots from the film include the camera filming the train from underneath.  It gives a fantastic, different perspective of this massive vehicle crossing over the railroad tracks.  This occurs multiple times and I loved it each and every time.

I had some positive and negative reactions to the sound in "Unstoppable."  Overall the score is nothing special.  It is more or less the same score played again and again.  This would be fine if it added to the visuals, but it sounded extremely tribal to me most of the time.  And I am positive there were no Indians (or Native Americans, if I have to be politically correct) in this film.  However, at times the score seemed to be synchronized with the wheels grinding and sparking on the steel of the tracks.  I'm pretty sure string instruments were used and throughout the movie I described the sound to myself as "steely."  Another comment I have on sound is regarding the actual sound effects, which are memorable.  Like I mentioned earlier the grinding of the wheels throughout the movie, the sparks that are bound to fly during such a scenario, among other train related sounds and the atmosphere in general all add to the intense feeling of the movie.

Another negative aspect I found with the film is that toward the end the camera went a little crazy.  I have a feeling Tony Scott just wanted to make the camera more frantic as the climax came closer.  Which is fine and that very well may be his style, however I found it dizzying at times.  The camera was shaking everywhere and at times spinning rapid fire around characters.  Before that the hand-held camera technique was used well and I believe it added to the film's suspenseful, engaging tone.

Be prepared to have deja vu from last summer, "The Taking of Pelham 123," also directed by Tony Scott.  Denzel Washington is back, since he and Tony Scott have a Tim Burton-Johnny Depp/Martin Scorsese-Robert De Niro/Leonardo DiCaprio type of man-crush going on.  Also there are an awful lot of trains and similar overly digitized look at times, among other things.  However, "Unstoppable," plotwise, actingwise, etc is the better movie, as much as I love John Travolta.

So I was surprised to see how many great reviews this got.  I was a little skeptical after "The Taking of Pelham 123," got mostly negative reviews last summer.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself throughout "Unstoppable."  The leads and visuals are great.  The story is compelling and suspenseful, no thanks to the score.  If you love the leads, then see it in theaters...I recommend the second row in the theater so you can see Denzel Washington's beautiful face up close.  Otherwise rent it.  If you don't at least have a little bit of fun watching it, then I really feel sorry because something must not be right. 3 out of 4 stars.

-Joseph Sbrilli