UNSTOPPABLE – tony scott – 6.7 / 10

At this point, if you buy a ticket to a Tony Scott film, you ought to know exactly what you’re getting: a serviceable thriller, probably starring Denzel Washington as a put upon father or husband looking to repair his relationships with the women in his life, some frantic and totally unmotivated camera movement, lots of garish greens and blues, plenty of explosions, some groan-inducingly awful one-liners (‘It’s not a train; it’s a missile the size of the Chrysler Building.’) and a far too pat ending.  Unstoppable, of course, fulfills all of those criteria, but it does so in a much more entertaining fashion than most of Scott’s recent movies (The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Déjà Vu, Domino, etc.).  It’s as good as a film as we’re likely to ever see from Tony Scott.  And though that might only be slightly above average when compared to all other filmmakers, it’s nonetheless encouraging that Scott has reversed the trend his career had been taking.

Discussing the details of the plot and characters of Unstoppable is probably a waste of everyone’s time.  Both are simply pieces to be moved around in order to produce the greatest amount of audience tension.  It doesn’t matter, for instance, that Chris Pine’s character is married except for the fact that his wife lives in the town at which the runaway train is expected to derail catastrophically.  Everything, from character details to camera angles, exists only to build tension for the film’s climax.

Unstoppable is the kind of film the big studios would love to make all the time: a serviceable thriller with a couple stars that tells a simple story in a straightforward way with plenty of action and the occasional emotional moment thrown in to humanize the heroes.  It’s by the book stuff.  But it’s also deceptively difficult to pull off competently.  And here Tony Scott does it with ease.  Thus, Unstoppable is simply a pretty good time at the movies.  No more, no less.

That’s the sort of soulless corporate filmmaking that’s very easy to hate on.  But when it’s executed well, it’s also a prime example of what Hollywood does better than anyone else.  There might be no heart in Unstoppable, but it’s undeniably a sleek, stylish juggernaut that’s impressive in its craftsmanship.  And if you buy a ticket to this sort of movie, especially one directed by Tony Scott, and then complain that it’s soulless, you have no one to blame but yourself.