Unstoppable (2010, Runaway Train Thriller) – 6/10 movie review

Cast / crew Denzel Washington: Chris Pine: Rosario Dawson: Ethan Suplee:

Unstoppable (2010) A mistake from a yard engineer lets train 777 leave it’s yard under full power, without a driver and a quickly broken failsafe. And a hazardous volatile cargo. Just how do you stop a speeding train? 6/10 Thrilling action movie with disappointing characters but quality star charisma from Denzel Washington and Chris Pine and some great helicopter and train stunt work to provide excitement and reason to watch. The "Inspired by a True Story" title card covers the Denzel / Pine bit where they catch up to the train to try and stop it but a big mid-film train explosion (this is a Tony Scott film, after all) is unconvincing, the railway boss is predictably, boringly evil, the omnipresent media covers the entire event from beginning to end with unconvincing detail (names of employees and how the incident started) and, unsurprisingly, all these clichés are added unnecessarily as the lazy screenwriter’s comfort blanket. Even more focus on the incident and less on the tiresome, entirely invented ‘drama’ and ‘characters’ in-between would have yielded a better movie. This movie contains a mouthed sexual swear word, mild swear words and unpleasant scenes. Classified 12A by BBFC. Persons under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

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