Review of Unstoppable (2010) by Scott C — 20 Sep 2012

For anyone who doesn't know this story about me and this movie, here it comes. The Social Network is IMO one of the top 5 films of the decade, and maybe one of the definitive films describing modern society. It is perfect..... And yet I refused to see it until I had seen Unstoppable first. That's right. I stood by that decision, much to the dismay of my friends and family (Dan.... that's primarily you) and I still stand by it. Unstoppable is flawless. Tony Scotts best work... better than Top Gun, Man on Fire, True Romance...

Thanks to the efforts of HBO and Cinemax who seemingly have an individual channel devoted to playing it on repeat, there is no question that I've watched Unstoppable more times than I can count, more than every other movie combined this past year. It's sad actually, but I can't help myself. Anytime its on, I have to watch it. And there are a laundry list of reasons why.

First, the acting is flawless. Sure, the roles are cliche, but Denzel and Co don't take that lightly. I always joke that Denzel spent 5 minutes preparing for this movie because of the depth of the role, but he plays it with so much blue collar joy that its perfect. Chris Pine being the flawed yet likeable young guy being in charge of the older vet - something every officer in the military has had experience with - and he nails it. Rosario Dawson should also get top billing for being a female Denzel basically - tough, experienced, well spoken, not to be screwed with... and if having one Denzel in a Tony Scott movie is great... having 2 Denzels is perfect. And you have to appreciate how Tony Scott is able to derive a villain out of the train itself with its random T Rex roar everytime the train does something menacing and just the close up angles that give it a gargantuan look (I've always liked that word, gargantuan.... ahem, Steven).

Second, Tony is able to take a really limited true story and turn it into a believable action film that no one expected - honestly, read the synopsis and tell me if the story jumps out at you. It probably doesnt. Oh no, a runaway train.... And yet Tony is able to harness a great action adventure out of nothing basically. And he does so by taking everything that worked over 25 years of action movies and combining them altogether. Unstoppable has elements from every film he made and in the end its perfect.

Lastly, the action itself. Obviously we live in a world of visual effects and imagination. You can't realistically film the climax of The Avengers today because its fantasy. And today its easier to make fantasy because going out into the world and shutting down roads, buildings, highways, to make action movies isn't feasible. Yet this movie is real. Just as much as everyone should appreciate the opening (and every other scene really) of The Dark Knight Rises for just the shear ability to film action live, this movie involves multiple trains that weigh in the hundreds of TONS and have limited ways and directions to move... and coordinate helicopters and actors in rural countryside where you don't have a soundstage or rigging... and the fact that this movie is constantly in motion.... I don't know how you can't appreciate the filmmakers here. This movie takes me back to Speed, one of the best action movies of the 90s. The action is 100% real, and that makes for a more intense thrill ride, especially today with visual effects dominating cinema.

This isn't a rant about special effects in movies. However, I grew up in the era when action movies had to be filmed on location, shutting down highways for weeks just to get 2 minutes of action. So when I see Unstoppable, I look at brilliant filmmaking by Tony Scott, constantly asking myself "how did he film that?" as if I'm watching magic. And that's why we go see movies right? To see things we didn't think could happen? Tony Scott did that for me with Unstoppable and I will keep watching it every time its on. And I hope you do too.