Unstoppable / Rated PG-13 for peril, language and destruction Unstoppable is a runaway train chase movie. Cut to the chase. Not a lot of time spent doing character development other than what the characters talk about once the chase starts. The film is very loosely based on a real life incident that happened in 2001 when a runaway train ran away. 66 miles later the running ended. No injuries or damages. They took the basic idea and ran away with it. Runaway train movies can only end in 1 of a few ways. The train runs its course and stops. Not much to see here. Or it can derail, crash and cause lots of damage. Or it can cause lots of damage but not derail and crash. I can't giveaway what happens but how many people would go to a movie called Stoppable? Denzel Washington (fresh off another train move "The Taking of Pelham 123") is the engineer of a train that doesn't runaway. Chris Pine, better known as the new Captain of the Enterprise in the future, is the newbie conductor. Rosario Dawson is the lady in command at the local train center. The original real life story took place in Pennsylvania and much of the film was shot there. When the star of the story, namely train 777 gets moving you best stay out of the way. Moving along at 70 MPH and towing a ½ mile of cars this is one big, fast demon of destruction. For extra jeopardy the train has a number of cars filled with toxic materials. For even more danger the train is heading for Stanton, PA where there awaits an elevated track directly over fuel storage tanks where the train speed limit is 15 MPH. UHOH. Most of the work done by DW and CP is in the cab of a train. Not much they can do there except look worried and learn about each others problems. A few jokes are told to fend off impending doom. The young guy learns a lot from the old guy. Meanwhile old 777 is whipping along and anything that gets in its way gets nuked. At least that's what it looks like. In the works since 2004 Unstoppable has apparently had a few production problems and delays. Many over who was getting the most money. The film is work man like and decently made. The usual scenes of nail biting relatives and friends watching the whole pending disaster unfold are included. There is also elation and cheering whenever any part of the pending doom is defeated by our heroes. Stoppable or Unstoppable. Which film would you go to see? Stop and think. Rated 2.5 out of 4.0 Great Locomotive Chases. Fess Parker version 1956 or Buster Keaton version 1926. Where are these guys when you need them?
Review of Unstoppable
