It seems that Tony Scott didn't get enough of speeding trains and tense control rooms in last year's "The Taking of Pelham 123." For "Unstoppable," he has decided that locomotives can carry a film largely on their own, stripped of genre trappings like the John Travolta-led hijackers in "Pelham."
Though it's risky to cast a train - faceless, with no voice to growl threateningly and an acting style generously described as stiff - as a film's villain, "Unstoppable" doesn't suffer too much from the handicap, eventually wringing heroic moments from its "inspired-by-a-true-story" scenario.
It's a relief when the movie's action finally catches up to Scott's desired level of suspense. As early as the first 10 minutes or so, the style-obsessed director tries to artificially energize humdrum scenes with a technique he has overused in the past: zooming in and out quickly, often jostling the camera while doing it. The tic is already badly dated, and when it's used in scenes that don't already have a certain adrenaline quotient - like those in "Unstoppable" of mundane control-room disagreements - it's annoying and laughable.
Scott over-relies on the zoom lens early on because Mark Bomback's script is pretty lousy at building tension. "Unstoppable" starts when a bumbling railyard employee (Ethan Suplee, the lovably dumb sidekick on "My Name is Earl") accidentally sends a 39-car freight train out of the yard with its throttle set on full power and its air brakes disabled.
The transition from everyday screw-up to evening news-worthy danger (turns out the train's carrying tons of toxic, flammable materials) happens awkwardly, with the movie unsure how long to milk its comedy of errors before asking us to worry.
Meanwhile, "Unstoppable" cuts back and forth to a train that doesn't yet know of the mishap. A veteran engineer (Denzel Washington) is gruffly coaching a newbie (Chris Pine) through his first day on the job, with class resentments a constant undercurrent.
Scott often leans heavily on alpha-male bickering ("Top Gun," "Crimson Tide"), but the conflict here (along with Pine's estranged-family backstory, which initially seems superfluous) serves a purpose, creating a dynamic that makes the duo's eventual heroics a bit more enjoyable.
By the time Washington and Pine are charging at 70 mph toward that runaway bomb-on-wheels, dangling from damaged couplings and leaping from one car to the next in a race to put the brakes on this faceless beast, Scott has earned the use of his zooming shakycam.
We never for a minute suspect the pair won't survive their self-imposed mission, but it's fun to watch an unappreciated rail worker and his unproven new partner try to answer that old riddle about the irresistible force and the immovable object.
'Unstoppable'
Our grade: B-
Genres: Thriller, Action
Running Time: 98 min
MPAA rating: PG-13
Release Date: Nov 12, 2010
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