Unstoppable (2010)

Rated: PG-13 for sequences of action and peril, and some language.
Length: 98 minutes
Grade: BBBD=B-
Budget: $100 million
Box Office: $190 million (82 U.S., 86 Intl., 22 DVD)

Written by: Mark Bomback (Race to Witch Mountain, Deception, Live Free or Die Hard, Godsend, The Night Caller)
Directed by: Tony Scott (Taking of Pelham 123, Déjà vu, Domino, Man on Fire, Spy Game, Enemy of the State, The Fan, Crimson Tide, True Romance, The Last Boy Scout, Days of Thunder, Beverly Hills Cop 2, and Top Gun.)
Starring: Denzel Washington and Chris Pine
With: Rosario Dawson and Kevin Dunn

Summary:

While training a rookie, a veteran train engineer is in a unique position to try to stop an unmanned runaway train at great personal risk to avert a much greater tragedy in an urban area.

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Comments:

This looks and feels like a Tony Scott film. It’s far more engaging than I anticipated, and the story is pretty good. Denzel and Chris Pine both do fine. There isn’t a lot to say about the film other than that the end lesson is that ordinary people area capable of great heroism precisely because they know that it’s the right thing to do. The film follows the basic outline of a real event from 2001, although it was predictably exaggerated to make it bigger than life as a Tony Scott film always will. If this was some sort of apology film for Pelham 123 which both Scott and Washington made, well, apology accepted. Now don’t ever do that again.