Unstoppable

Once the train at the center of Unstoppable gets moving, so does the film itself. It’s quite a thrilling late year summer blockbuster and one of the best of this year.

In his fifth collaboration with director Tony Scott, Denzel Washington is Frank Barnes, a Train Engineer about to go into retirement. Today, he’s sent to teach newcomer Will Colson (Chris Pine) the ropes, with neither man liking the situation.

Meanwhile, thanks to a rather stupid engineer (Ethan Suplee), an unmanned train packed with molten phenol is sent barreling down the tracks. It’s “a missile the size of the Chrysler Building” on wheels, and nothing that corporate head Galvin (Kevin Dunn) comes up with can stop it. It eventually falls to our two heroes to stop the train.

As a late year blockbuster, the top priority is action, and on that, it delivers. Whatever slow moments it has are brief, and whatever plot holes it has are surely unnoticeable. Instead, the focus is on the train and stopping it from making a mess of things. Much credit is due to the editors here, including Chris Lebenzon (Top Gun), for the film’s constant speed.

There are also plenty of funny bits here, and the actors have good chemistry here. In fact, the only time the film really slows down is once the train stops. Fortunately, the mood afterward is of satisfaction for having gone through a nice ride.