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Thursday, July 3, 2025

'Unstoppable' Doesn't Brake for the Box Office

"Unstoppable," a movie which seems to continue the current tradition of on-again, off-again compelling one word titles, stars Denzel Washington and Chris Pine as conductor and engineer trying to stave off disaster as a run-away train hurtles into town.

The place is a Pennsylvania rail yard administrated by the Allegheny and West Virginia Railroad company. Nearby, in the town of Stanton, rookie conductor Will Colson (Pine) rises for work and muses on his wife and child as they approach the school bus. Arriving at the rail yard, he meets twenty-eight year veteran engineer Frank Barnes (Washington) who works with him for the day. Tension develops between Barnes and Colson over gaps in age and experience, and Barnes' reasonable belief that young rail men like Colson come to replace him. Meanwhile, a series of unfortunate events at the rail yard in Fuller, Pennsylvania leads a hostler named Dewey (Ethan Suplee) to vacate his moving train. By the time he needs to get back in, the locomotive and its half-mile of cars accelerates, leaving him behind. The train reaches seventy one miles per hour, with a toxic load of molten phenol, and headed for populated areas. Numerous options are expended, resulting in the death of one rail man and the injury of another. Predictably, Denzel Washington and Chris Pine, under the direction of yard master Connie Hooper (Rosario Dawson), become the last hope of slowing down the train before it causes a huge toxic fire. With a personal friendship formed under incredible duress and a nasty foot wound, the day is saved.

While anyone will admit the inherently compelling nature of a moving train, with constant knowledge of the huge, dangerous body that a train must support, few can find those perfect conditions in which a train is directly perilous, almost malicious. A train only moves in a straight line and if a person or object isn't in its way, then there's no danger. However, "Unstoppable's" director Tony Scott makes this situation, and makes it seamless. Though the film's real life inspiration is, in many ways, changed and less dramatic, the premise is the same. A train, carrying some type of toxin, is out of control and set to damage the areas it usually supplies.

There is, likewise, nothing spectacular about Washington and Pine's characters. They are average in every sense, armed with views and issues to which anyone could relate. Yet, they represent the everyday hero and do so as convincingly as the big screen will allow. Washington and Pine's characters, in contention with other reviewers, do develop. There is, in the short and involved space of the film, a depth that develops in both Pine's and Washington's roles. They react as expected, and they resolve their back and forth scrutiny by realizing that they can work together. This is a reasonable conclusion in any film, given the dire situation and the fact of a solely working relationship.

These illustrations do not suffer in the least from both actors' portrayals. Both Chris Pine and Denzel Washington bring their character's motives to the forefront and find almost no hitches in expressing individual narratives. Supporting actors headed by Rosario Dawson and Kevin Dunn express sides of the story that increase the situation's urgency. Meanwhile, Ethan Suplee and Lew Temple's characters are simply objects of fun and what can happen if protocol is not stringently followed.

In addition to the acting, there is incredibly effective cinematography to have you believing the hugeness and the inherent danger of the train. However, it is amplified times one hundred by multiple shots from below the train and on the track. While it never goes so far as to imply the train is a sentient danger, it proves over and over thatm if not checked, the train can destroy just about anything.

For all the praise that could go to Unstoppable, it does have its imperfections. In one scene, a short back shot is taken of Barnes' daughter as she bends over waitressing at Hooters. In other scenes, the audience's reliance on the conquering heroes is bolstered by multiple police ineptitudes. Kevin Dunn's railroad official Galvin is reasonably concerned with keeping his job, ignores Hooper's clearer viewpoint, and, due to an inefficient balancing act, someone dies. This simple dichotomy between the effective people at the bottom and the incompetents at the top serves the purpose of Unstoppable, but is too commonly told. Another small plot detail is the usefulness of veterans in the face of newer replacements. While current economic trends have reversed this trope in real life, it serves as the millionth installment of youth vs. experience in recent memory.

While many parts of Unstoppable are expected, others will catch the audience by surprise in usual thriller fashion. However, the entire picture is a worthy viewing experience and a treat to any and every fan of Chris Pine, Denzel Washington, Rosario Dawson or the humble creature that is suspense.

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