Lions and Tigers and Trains, Oh My…
Rated PG-13
Welcome back to your subterranean source of expert motion picture analysis. This week’s cinematic selection is the action-packed thriller from director Tony Scott (Top Gun, Enemy of the State): Unstoppable. The film stars Denzel Washington (The Hurricane, The Book of Eli) as an old hand railroad engineer, Chris Pine (Smokin’ Aces, Star Trek) as a rookie conductor on his maiden voyage, Rosario Dawson (Sin City, Seven Pounds) as a breathless rail commander, and Kevin Dunn (Transformers, Gridiron Gang) as the Vice President of Rail Operations and typical business tightwad who is more concerned with expenses and image than public safety. Also starring in this film is a Hollywood newcomer, “The Beast”, as a 100,000 ton freight train barreling uncontrollably through the rural Pennsylvania countryside plowing through whatever is dumb enough to stand on the tracks in its way.
The story itself is based on true events , which is shocking, because just about the only accurate event relating the film to the real life incident in Ohio is the seemingly absurd way that the mammoth train escapes the reigns of its handlers. The train’s original conductor, played by actor Ethan Suplee (Mall Rats, American History X) is creeping The Beast out of the rail yard when he notices a switch in front of him has not been thrown to put him on the correct track. While this machine can flatten a dime with ease, it can’t exactly stop on one, so our bumbling conductor decides to hop out of the slow-moving behemoth and flip the switch manually. Now, it’s important to note that the train is equipped with automatic air brakes to stop it in the event the conductor becomes incapacitated in some form (like, say, jumping off a moving train to throw a switch), but unbeknownst to the conductor, the air brakes have not yet been properly connected. When the conductor attempts to climb back aboard the train, he loses his footing, and away we go…
If that sounds a little unbelievable to you, remember this: That’s EXACTLY what happened in real life. The rest of the movie differs from the true story in two main ways: One, what follows in the next 95 minutes of film is completely over-exaggerated if not totally false, and Two, there was no Denzel Washington in Ohio when the real one got away. If there had been, my man Denzel wouldn’t be Denzel, he’d be Dan Washington, and you would have never heard of him.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the tracks (literally) are two men pulling their own engine out of a station. Frank (Washington) is being forced to retire early by the bureaucracy of the railroad, and his new partner Will (Pine) is a rookie conducting his first run. There is tension between the two at the beginning of the film as the veteran is being supplanted by the rookie, and both actors bring intrigue to the story expertly. As the film progresses, the two earn each other’s respect amid all the sparks and wreckage. The audience is also introduced to Connie (Dawson), the rail commander responsible for ensuring that all the rail operations run smoothly, and who desperately is trying to find a way to stop the runaway train without endangering the lives of hundreds or thousands of people. The train is carrying a payload of a toxic chemical that the audience doesn’t need to know anything about except for the fact that it would be very bad to spill it in someone’s yard. She is opposed by the VP of the rail company (Dunn), who basically spends most of his time trying to downplay the severity of the situation and threatening to fire people.
Basically, Connie is able to divert Frank and Will’s train only seconds before a catastrophic collision takes place and explains the situation to Frank and Will, who then decide that they are the only people who will be able to stop The Beast before it destroys a heavily populated town with an absurdly sharp elevated rail turn right in the middle of a fuel refinery or something. The rest of the film centers on people trying to stop the train, and the train stubbornly continuing to not stop.
Every once in a great while, a movie surprises me. I had unbelievably low expectations for this film, even though I must admit Denzel Washington is one of my very favorite actors. Partly, I selected this film because much of it was shot in nearby Tyrone, PA, so I thought that was cool, and because I wanted to see if Denzel could pull this off. I was astonished, however, that I actually thoroughly enjoyed this film, and Denzel had very little to do with it. I mean, he was spectacular as always, but the way the film carried itself was exceptional for an action flick. Tony Scott paced this film so fast that I didn’t even have time to question the glaring absurdities I was watching. I was too awed by the action and the running over of poorly placed objects to notice how silly things were, and that’s the mark of a good film. Being lost in the moment is blissful.
Just watching the train whiz by from right to left, and then having the camera pan past Dawson in the control room from left to right, with a barrage of background music constant throughout the whole movie, I mean, it really kept you on the edge of your seat. The way Scott shoots the story makes even what should be unexciting seem unbelievably exhilarating. You simply don’t get a chance to question why the inside of a train control room looks like NASA’s mission control, or whether or not a train can precariously teeter on two wheels without shattering the rails or the wheels, or why the hell anybody would ever park anything on train tracks, especially with a million cop cars surrounding the crossing and news helicopters zipping around like they’re dodging enemy SAMs in some Afghan canyon.
The bottom line is this: Unstoppable is a damn fun movie to watch. The acting is good, the cinematography is excellent, and the pacing is exceptional. Once you’ve finished the movie and caught your breath, you may question just about everything in the film, but for the 98 minutes that Tony Scott has you, he really has you. He just doesn’t give you the chance to argue with him during the film. Unstoppable allows you to simply shut off your brain for 98 minutes and just enjoy the ride. And, ladies and gentlemen, it’s one hell of a ride.