It all begins on a day where rookie conductor Will Colson (Chris Pine) has his first day on the job at AWVR (Allegheny and West Virginia Railroad) and is paired with 28-year veteran train engineer Frank Barnes (Denzel Washington). While the other old school employees are resentful of young Colson, whose last name happens to be the same as some high level officials in the company, Barnes is more accepting of him, although he certainly puts him through his paces. Colson seems a bit distracted as his personal life and custody battle with his wife happen to choose that day to ramp up and play out, so much so that he makes a critical mistake in hooking up too many cars on their load while being distracted on his cell phone. Meanwhile, back at the rail yard, another pair of employees make some bad choices and the result is an unmanned train that starts heading down the track when its driver chose to leave the train to throw a switch by hand. Since the driver put the train in an idling position, it wouldn't be nearly as bad, but train 777 soon shifts into full throttle (unbeknownst to the rail yard employees) and, to make matters worse, the failsafe air brakes weren't connected, in an ironic effort to save time.
What is thought to be a "coaster" and not something to be really worried about soon reveals the true horror of what is happening - the train is barreling down tracks manned by other trains, one filled to capacity with school children on a field trip, and is headed directly towards an elevated "s curve" that will surely cause the train to derail at its current speeds. Yardmaster Connie Hooper (Rosario Dawson) pleads with the upper management to take the financial hit of derailing the car in a stretch of rural area, to minimize the loss of life and danger to the community. Unwilling to lose that much money, they try other options, including having another veteran engineer step in with another train in front to try and slow the unmanned train down, but this ends in tragedy. After numerous attempts to stop the high speed death machine by the company and a very near miss for the newly-teamed pair of Barnes and Colson, it becomes apparent that these two just might be the only hope. The pair determines to hook their train to train 777 and attempt to slow it down to a safe speed, risking their own lives in the daring attempt, and winning the hearts of a grateful city in the process.
As far as special features go, there are a good number of them, I just didn't find them all too compelling. I love Tony Scott as a director, but the featurettes just didn't have the punch that the movie does. There's audio commentary with Scott, plus a handful of featurettes on stunt work, setting up a particular scene, a generic making-of, plus a discussion with Scott and the cast. There is also a script development track playable like commentary along with the movie. As for the high def aspect, Unstoppable looks simply terrific. There are a fair number of explosions, but most of the work was done with practicals instead of CG and it all looked very realistic and really popped. Likewise, sound was great and you can feel the train barreling down the track all around you in glorious surround sound. Denzel Washington and Tony Scott seem to work really well together, as always, and Denzel is his typical excellent self. Even playing the older guy, he still manages to be an action hero and spends his share of time risking his life. In this film, Chris Pine shows he's not just a one note song and can be more than simply "the new Kirk," while Rosario Dawson does an admirable and highly believable job as Connie Hooper. While I'd always rather see her in a role like she played in Sin City, she's equally good in a more serious role.
If you like action flicks and especially those under the helm of Tony Scott, check out Unstoppable. While I hadn't originally thought the film would be that great, it definitely exceeded my expectations and I really enjoyed it. It may not be one to purchase since it's not one you'd want to view over and over, but it's a great selection for a movie night.
