Yes people, this movie is about an out-of-control train. Proof that Hollywood has run out of ideas.
A massive unmanned locomotive, nicknamed “The Beast” and loaded with toxic cargo, roars through the countryside, vaporising anything put in front of it. A veteran engineer (Denzel Washington) and a young conductor (Chris Pine), aboard another train in the runaway’s path, devise an incredible plan to try and stop it – and prevent certain disaster in a heavily populated area.
I’m not going to lie, when I first saw this trailer, I said to myself: “this is literally going to be a piece of crap!”. Now that I have seen this, well I can say that it’s honestly not as bad as I expected.
It started off slow, and that is one of my big complaints with this movie, it just didn’t have that steam (pun intended) going throughout the movie, that I would have liked. There are parts in this film, where really nothing is happening, people are just talking about something, or walking, and that’s fine and all, but there were too many scenes like that and it didn’t keep my interest fully.
Despite not much happening at points, this film does keep you on the edge of your seat at times, and it’s suspense works. Director Tony Scott, uses plenty of that gimmicky shake-camera that he always uses, and if you don’t like that, then this isn’t your film, because he uses that shit even when nothing is happening. But I felt like that camera use, added a lot to the suspense, and thrilling elements of this film.
However, this film is very by-the-numbers. You know from the start where this film is going to go, and when, which takes away from the film in a way, but while the fun is happening you don’t care, your just on the edge of your seat. The plot was a little too thin for my liking though. There were parts where these characters were talking about their personal lives, and troubles, and not to lie, some of it was pretty cheesy and recycled from countless other films really.
I did like seeing Denzel Washington actually do some good to this film though. He’s got his usual charm that everybody knows and loves him for, and although his character may be pretty lazily written, he still does what he can with this character, and that’s all we asked for. Chris Pine is also good here as well, mostly playing second-in-command to Denzel, which is not a bad thing, cause he handles it all pretty well. There are also some nice side performances from Rosario Dawson, Ethan Suplee (who’s back on the big-boy diet sadly), and Kevin Dunn.
Consensus: It’s exciting with it’s actual thrilling moments, but Unstoppable is let down by it’s lazy script, and utterly by-the-numbers story we have seen, time and time again.
6/10=Rental!!
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hey thanks for dropping by! i love it that you review tons of movies here. Rottentomatoes is my usual go-to site for movie reviews but i’ll be sure to check your site regularly too 🙂
haha don’t you think that unstoppable would look rather sad on a small screen? e.g. LOTR sucks out-of-the-theatre. it only looks mind blowingly awesome on a friggin humungous screen.
Yeah, on a big screen, it is quite the ish.
Disagree on the merits of the movie. I do agree it is a slow development. If this was a StarWars type story it would not make sense. These are blue collar guys, and most guys aren’t jumping up and down in the morning about work being exciting. However, it is deadly work with a high fatality rate of accidents in railyards so the attention to detail by Frank Barnes is bitching to save your bacon. Anyhow, I thought it was a great movie.
It was good, just not as fun as I would have hoped for it to be.
What disappoints me is that I haven’t read or heard a single reviewer mention Runaway Train (1985), which I thought was a really classy movie and which could use some word-of-mouth, though I guess it’s too late now. Unstoppable steals from it shamelessly, but doesn’t take the best part: Jon Voight going crazy. I’m not referring to your review (good review!), cause maybe you haven’t seen (or even heard of) Runaway Train, but Manohla Dargis ought to know better… Oops. Having said that, I see that RT is discussed, at least, in the comments to her review online.
I have not seen Runaway Train, but I know of it, and I thought the same thing. Big time rip-off!
Nice review. I’m just happy Tony Scott and Denzel corrected that terrible disgrace for a film Taking Pelham 123.
Keep up the reviews.
I have still not seen that! But thank you, will do!
I agree with your rating. The premise of the film keeps it from packing surprises and being anything special, but it’s well directed and acted, and is much more entertaining than a lot of other recent movies.
Very true indeed my friend!
Grrr, I can’t stand the way Tony Scott uses that stupid shaky-cam effect… he must have a patent out on it or something….. It ruined Man On Fire for me, as well as Deja Vu…
Hold the bloody camera still dammit!!!!
Yeah that did start to annoy me after awhile, you would think he would just know already that people get annoyed by that easily.
How boring. We go from Travolta to a train being the main villain.
Hahah so true!
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Speaking of train movies, it might sound weird, but i’ve been watching all the Thomas the Tank Engine shorts with my grandchildren. The films are appropriate for two- and three-year-olds, but at the same time, they’re British-if-the-British-were-sort-of-Japanese creations that I find fascinating.
Haha I do not watch them, sorry my mans! But very interesting!
gonna see this tonight, thought it sounds like i missed out by not seeing it in theaters.
great review! check out mine later on in the week
It’s alright, but have fun and I’ll check you out dude!
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