Unstoppable Movie Review (2010)

Vehicle based action movies can be hit or miss, because they usually have quite a contrived plot with some outlandish action, such as a film like Speed. But Speed was so much fun and so well made that it's become a classic action flick. Unstoppable is a more grounded and less flashy film, but there's much to enjoy with it. An unmanned and extremely fast train travels towards a city and its up to rail officials and rail workers to find a way to stop it. Frank (Denzel Washington) and Will (Chris Pine) are the train driver and coordinator who must stop the train before it kills civilians.

Unstoppable is from start to finish, a superbly filmed and acted action flick that maintains interest throughout. Unstoppable does however lack any unique direction and left me without any lasting impression. The attempts to stop the train are adequately constructed and believable but they lack tension and excitement. The best scene in the film is the scene where Pine and Washington attempt to pull the train in the opposite direction with their small train, to slow it down.

Washington is terrific as he usually is and although his role is somewhat limited because he mostly sitting in a train control room for the majority of the film, he still manges to make himself interesting and likeable, a testament to his charm and skill as an actor. Pine is also well casted even with his somewhat throwaway back story and he and Washington have a winning chemistry. Smaller roles go to Rosario Dawson, Kevin Dunn and T.J. Miller, all of which nicely add to the film. Kevin Dunn is an underrated character actor who has been in a multitude of different films. Dunn has a small but effective role here and his scene with Denzel Washington is funny and quite touching.

Unstoppable undoubtably has lots of things going right for it, such as the cast and the fast paced and towering camera work. But the film suffers mainly from a simplistic and largely unexciting finale. This criticism may be unfair as the film is based on a true story, but as a finale of a film on its own merits, it remains an unremarkable end to the film. Denzel and Pine are well casted as the two leads and their presence makes the film above average.

RATING:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBIGqGd3wLQ