And this movie was based on a real incident which happened in Ohio and it was filmed in in Ohio as well. We were wondering if either Chris Pine or Denzel were from Ohio as well but we were too lazy to look it up. Anyway, one thing is for sure - Tony Scott isn't from Ohio and he tends to put Denzel in his best movies (although he's worked with Tom Cruise, Will Smith and others). Tony Scott's brother, Ridley Scott who is our all time favorite director (see our Blade Runner review) and he likes action films - this one while relatively uncomplicated is built for high speed suspense.
The aged veteran versus the punky upstart, a timeless plot but it works
There is something to be said for uncomplicated plots - sometimes we just want to go to the theater and be transported to another state of mind - to the vicarious experience. This tends to work better at a physical level - where adrenaline starts pumping as we become part of the story without having to think too hard about the philosophical implications. In Unstoppable, the freight train is without a doubt the main character - we don't get too deep with the other characters - they are ordinary folks placed in an extraordinary situation. We'd like to think we would react the same way they do (at least the folks who are trying to rescue the town, not the morons who sent the train off without the brakes turned on).
The two stars represent action of today versus action of the last twenty years. Denzel Washington has wowed us since Glory (well, we like him on St. Elsewhere too, but the action films is where he really shines) and Chris Pine made quite the splash last year with the new J.J. Abrams version of Star Trek. Placing these two stars together as the crusty veteran and cocky punk was a good casting move. The rest of the cast was relatively unimportant and in some cases downright distracting (especially the scenes with Denzel's daughters working at Hooters). It's almost as if someone said - hey there's zero sex appeal in this movie so they threw in gratuitous scenes of Hooters girls (at least they were in the bar and not trying to stop the train, although that would have made for an interesting twist).
Saturday Night Live did an excellent spoof of the Trailer -
the Denzel impression is awesome...
the Denzel impression is awesome...
Unstoppable is pretty easy to figure out - we sort of knew how it would end before it started - but in a movie like this, it really doesn't matter as long as you enjoy the ride - which we did.
Copyright 2010, Raving Reviews
