MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s 1:39 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right
| Unstoppable Movie Stats & Links |
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| Starring: | Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson |
| MPAA Rated: | PG-13 |
| Released By: | 20th Century Fox |
| Release Date: | 11/12/2010 |
| Kiddie Movie: | Not too you, they might not like trains anymore. |
| Date Movie: | She might get suspenseful and snuggle. |
| Gratuitous Sex: | None. |
| Gratuitous Violence: | Things get run over by the train. |
| Action: | It’s mostly a thriller and suspense film rather than action, although it still is action. |
| Laughs: | There are a couple of one-liners to make you chuckle. |
| Memorable Scene: | Frank and Will getting to know each other in the train. |
| Memorable Quote: | Oh my God! Galvin, you asshole! |
| Directed By: | Tony Scott |
| Produced By: | Julie Yorn, Tony Scott, Mimi Rogers, Eric McLeod, Alex Young |
I saw the trailer for “Unstoppable.” Yup, there he was, Denzel, in all of his Denzellness, as a train engineer, and there it was, a train, with no one at the controls, set on a collision course for releasing toxic stuff into a large town. Yup, I also get it, there’s a newbie involved, in this case Captain Kirk, I mean Chris Pine, and somehow they will save the town, and maybe one of them might die. And finally, yup, I thought, “How exciting can this movie be? “ As it would be, I had no desire to really see this movie, but when my BFF had something to do and I had some free time, the choice was “Unstoppable” and Denzel or “Morning Glory” and Harrison (Ford that is). I can’t really say anything about the romantic comedy movie, but I will say that “Unstoppable” was a thrilling movie, my fingernails are bitten, and simply, “Who knew?”
The plot is simple: Two oafs in the rail yard don’t follow protocol and one of the trains ends up rolling down the track with no one in the cab to stop it, and, oh yea, the safety mechanism off because of our oafs. As Rosario Dawson tries to figure out what is going on (she plays the rail yard manager), she also finds out that there is volatile liquid being transported and a rather large Pennsylvania town in its path. Meanwhile, Will (Pine) and Frank (Washington), find themselves on a different train, with Will being the newbie, being trained by Frank (Who knew there was so much to learn about driving a train, but the movie shows that a hell of a lot goes into being an engineer instead of just hanging out in that cab, tooting the horn, and waving at traffic stopped at the crossing?). As luck would have it for the town, Frank’s train is on the same track as the rogue train, and, oh why am I bothering telling you any of the plot?
Look, for a fun time at the movie, and a movie that is pretty much non-stop in thrilldom and excitement, you can fare a lot worse than “Unstoppable.” Tony Scott keeps the action going at a nice pace, and in a weird way, what really makes this movie work is the cinematography, which nicely builds the suspense of the movie from start to finish. I mean, we pretty much know how things are going to turn out from the minute our oafs screw up by not hitching the air brakes, about the only question would be if any of our stars bite the dust. There is enough back-story to make you interested in the characters just enough, you can find yourself despising the corporate morons, and sure, there is some unbelievability and over-the-top-ed-ness about the film, but in the end you can sit back, relax, and know that the town is safe because Denzel is at the helm!
So, for a nice thrill ride during an evening at the theater, and I know this sounds weird, but go ahead and see a movie about a train. “Unstoppable was fun, Denzel and Chris had great rapport, I nibbled my fingernails off even though I knew the basic ending, and it’s 4 stars out of 5 for “Unstoppable.” Yes, I couldn’t believe it myself that it was that much fun.
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
I really liked “Due Date,” and really don’t want to give away any of the jokes because when they hit they usually come out of left field, and are better left to be served up in the moment, but the one scene I will ruin, and it’s the scene that took me out of the movie, was when Peter gets arrested by some Mexican border police dudes, and then Ethan steals not only the border police vehicle, but also is able to hitch up the trailer the police are keeping Peter in, and bring Peter along for the ride. This is the scene that, for me, took all plausibility of the movie out of reality (Okay, it wasn’t the only scene,) although, I will state, that a number of people in the theater did find the ensuing police chase funny.
…I guess I hate to put it this way, but it seems that “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” is a dudette flick. I say this simply by viewing it with my fiancé, whom, after we finished the movie, simply said “It was under two hours. It had a happy ending. I liked it.” Yup, my fiancé has a pretty simple scale for her liking of movies, and yes, she does have to actually like the movie, but as the credits started to roll, and I looked at her and said “Ehh,” she stated her case based on her ratings scale, I said “Really, you liked it?” and she replied “Yes I did.” Hmm?…
“21,” being the Hollywood take of the actual story, of course changes a whole bunch of things about the story, but it’s probably better because the actual story, while fascinating, would be pretty boring on the big screen. At its core, though, is the basic concept of using a team to gaining the upper hand at the tables, though I’m doubting any of the original team members found themselves running through the casino kitchen trying to get away from casino goons.