Director Report Card: Tony Scott (2010)

16. Unstoppable

In the abstract, it seems ridiculous. Tony Scott just did a train movie with Denzel Washington. What could possibly compel him to immediately turn around and do another one the very next year? Turns out it's slightly more complicated than that. “Unstoppable” is based on a true story, drawing on an actual runaway train incident that occurred in Ohio in 2001. A script was written back in 2004, with both Robert Schwentke and Martin Campbell being attached to direct at different points. After Denzel came aboard to star, he brought the script to Scott. (Presumably while they were working on their previous train thriller.) Both star and director briefly exited the project, when Fox asked to trim the budget down, but they were eventually lured back. In other words: This one nearly jumped the rails multiple times before pulling into the station. “Unstoppable” finally departed for cinema screens in 2010.

In Northern Pennsylvania, a train engineer leaves the cab of a moving locomotive to re-align a switch. While he's outside, the train pops out of idle and into full throttle, making it impossible to re-enter. Now, an unmanned freight train hulling 47 cars full of hazardous material is barreling through the Pennsylvania countryside at full-speed. The same day, veteran railroad engineer Frank Barnes has been asked to orientate new conductor Will Colson. The two are doing routine work when they hear the news of the out-of-control train, which is only growing more dangerous the longer it runs. As more attempts to stop the runaway train fail, Frank and Will disobey orders and try to stop the thundering locomotive themselves.

It's easy to see why screenwriter Mark Bornback, upon reading a news article about the true story, immediately decided to write a movie based on this incident. This story has got an irresistible hook. The idea of a series of unlikely circumstances – but not so unlikely that they didn't really happen – leading to a train tearing across the countryside is plenty exciting. If you heard that pitch, you'd probably ask to know how it ended, if nothing else. It's also easy to see why a studio would give such a premise a greenlight, considering “Unstoppable” bears more than a slight passing resemblance to previously successful disaster movie or even hits like “Speed,” to a certain degree. (The screenplay was even originally entitled “Runaway Train,” a title shared with a previous, successful movie about a similar topic.)

It's not just the catchy premise that made “Unstoppable's” true story a good idea for a movie. This is a tale with a built-in time limit. The longer the train is left on the rails, the higher the chance it has of becoming dangerous. As it approaches a curving overpass bridge, by a factory, the train has a high chance of derailing. That would be extremely bad, considering the train's dangerous cargo, and provides a natural deadline for the plot. This makes every attempt to stop the train feel even more urgent. As each one fails, it puts more pressure on our heroes – and gets the audience more invested in their efforts – to stop the speeding locomotive. Building an urgent deadline like this into a story is a great way to build tension and keep the story suspenseful, as it thunders towards its conclusion.

While I've often been critical of the extreme visual style Tony Scott would adapt later in his career, it absolutely works in “Unstoppable's” favor. The movie is not as over-the-top as “Man on Fire” or “Domino,” floating at about the same level as Scott's “Taking of Pelham 123.” The snap-zooms, often done inside the cabs of the trains, establish a sense of intimacy and immediacy. Many sequences feature the camera rotating around people as they talk on radios or phones, which keep a sense of movement going even when the movie isn't on focused on the train. And when the camera is on the train, it's certainly moving fast. The camera peers up through the tracks or directly at the speeding locomotive. Scott makes sure the audience feels the same amount of speed as anyone near the barreling train would.

After thirty years in the film industry, it was also apparent that Tony Scott sure-as-hell knew how to make some cool looking action sequences. "Unstoppable" happily features several massive set-pieces. An attempt to stop the runaway train by easing another train in front of it results in the lesser train being pushed off the rails, creating another enormous, spiral, orange-and-red explosion. When the train collided with a horse trailer, Scott makes sure the trailer isn't merely torn apart but also spins up through the air. One of the film's most clever sequences involves a marine being lowers on a rope from a helicopter, attempting to board the train, and only being tossed back through some glass instead. When it comes to people climbing around a moving train, or sparks flying through the air, Scott has long since proven himself an expert at making this stuff exciting. Scott's direction and action expertise insures "Unstoppable" is heavy on adrenaline-pumping excitement. 

Much of this stuff might seem ridiculous. A moment of a passenger train full of kids nearly colliding with the runaway locomotive comes off as utterly contrived. (Though that doesn't stop it from being suspenseful.) And it's not like Scott's films are especially well known for their commitment to realism. Train experts – of which I am assuredly not one, so all the movie's technical stuff goes over my head – assure us that the movie exaggerates a lot of the story. Yet Scott makes some interesting nods towards realism here. At least one of people who experienced the real versions of these events was a consultant on the movie. CGI was used sparingly and is really only evident in one sequence. Real newscasters, at least one of which I recognize from my time spent in this area, are utilized throughout. The movie's towns are fictional but the film often shot in the actual area. A lot of "Unstoppable" seems implausible but it seems more of it really happened then you'd think.

Aside from its leading man and mobile setting, "Unstoppable" also has something else in common with Scott's "Taking if Pelham 123." Both movies are about blue collar workers who have been screwed over by their employers. Frank is a humble man who has worked the rails for a long time. His daughters are putting themselves through college via waitressing gigs at Hooter's. Despite the commitment he's shown to his job, it has returned none of that loyalty. He's about to be forced into early retirement, with slashed benefits. "Unstoppable" also takes the time to show how clueless the train company's corporate exec is, as his money-saving attempts to stop this disaster are totally ineffective. The blue collar guys do what's right, because it has to be done and they're the only ones who can do, even in defiance of their pay-masters. 

Like several of Scott's movies, this is also a film about two men butting heads during a tense situation. Frank and Will are opposed to each other early on. One's an old expert, the other's a young hotshot. Frank catches Will on his cellphone several times, putting the men at odds. Yet this manly difference-of-opinion is a lot less tense than "Crimson Tide" or "Taking of Pelham 123." Frank and Will ultimately bond over their issues with women. Frank's wife is dead and there's some unspoken tension with his daughters. Will's wife has a restraining order against him, following a kind-of fucked-up over-reaction the script forgives him for too easily. Despite their differences, these two guys prove their expertise and bravery to one another and exit the movie friends. This makes "Unstoppable" resemble "The Last Boy Scout," and other buddy cop movies, more than Scott's other Denzel-led thrillers. 

And what of Denzel? "Unstoppable" was well into the portion of his career where the beloved thespian split his time between award-winning dramas and crowd-pleasing popcorn movies. It's pretty clear which side of that divide "Unstoppable" falls on. Washington here plays a man determined to do his job, which in this scenario means saving the day. The only payment he asks in return is an honest paycheck and a good retirement plan. Even if there's little in the way of dramatic heavy-lifting, Denzel Washington absolutely knows how to make an everyman part like this compelling and distinctive. He adds a lot of humor and laidback charm to the part. Even though the character is nothing special, Washington makes sure we're invested in him through this dangerous journey.

If established superstar Denzel Washington was playing the veteran trainman, it only made sense to cast a younger box office draw as the rookie. Chris Pine, with his mega-watt smile and winking charm, appears as Will. The character is a lot more conflicted than Captain Kirk or Steve Trevor. His personal matters weigh heavily on him. Yet Pine's winning smirk and ability to seem cool-as-a-cucumber even when things are crazy around him allows his effortless movie star charm to shine through. He also has fine chemistry with Denzel. 

Its two assured leading men is part of why "Unstoppable" works as well as it does. That doesn't mean the supporting cast isn't another A-plus assembling of talent. Rosario Dawson plays a part similar to what Denzel did in "Pelham 123." Dawson is almost thanklessly great in the part, as a woman fed up with corporate orders while trying to make sure no one gets hurt in a high-stress scenario. It's a part that could've been played by almost anyone but Dawson makes it utterly her own. Kevin Corrigan also brings his unique presence, just a little weird but unforgettable, to the small role of a train expert. Ethan Suplee appears as the man who accidentally sets this disaster rolling, playing totally to type as a big, sloppy dumbass who you can't help but feel sorry for. Lee Temple also brings way more color than was necessary to the role of a welder who helps our heroes out.

"Unstoppable" received strong reviews from critics, some of whom somewhat begrudgingly admitted the movie was a well-oiled thrill machine that does pretty much everything right to achieve its humble goals of exciting and distracting the audience for 100 minutes. In an era less preoccupied with CGI superhero mayhem, the movie would've become a big summer blockbuster. Instead, the film only did slightly better at the box office than Tony Scott's last train movie. (It did score an Oscar nomination, for its Sound Editing.) Though nobody at the time knew this was going to be Tony Scott's last movie, in many ways "Unstoppable" was an ideal note for a career devoted to expertly executed spectacle to go out on. "Unstoppable" is smoothly constructed popcorn entertainment, with stylish direction and more-than-enough thrills to justify the price of a movie ticket. [Grade: B]

Even though his movies didn't make quite as much as they used to, Tony Scott was still an A-list action director at the end of his career. In the last years of his life, he was attached to high-profile projects like remakes of "The Warriors" and "The Wild Bunch," a sequel to "Top Gun," and was even considered for "Man of Steel." He also spent years developing "Emma's War," a biopic about British foreign aid worker Emma McCune, that seemed to be a more personal project for the director. Sadly, none of this would come to pass as Scott tragically took his own life in 2012.

Though sometimes dismissed as a hack during his lifetime, after his death Tony Scott was spoken of more kindly by film aficionados around the world. After watching all his movies, that's where I think I lie as well. He made some bad movies but Scott, at his best, created gorgeous imagery and executed fantastically exciting action sequences. Great art doesn't have to be great drama and Tony Scott proved that over and over again. His best movies – "True Romance" and "Revenge" – proved that his sense of cool could be balanced with a sweeter or grittier side. And, if you must compare him to his brother... Maybe Tony Scott never made a masterpiece of the level of "Alien" but he also never directs anything as mindnumbingly boring as "A Good Year," so let's call them even.