Tony Scott's Unstoppable pretty much delivers the accelerated thrills and blue-collar uprising that you would expect from this kind of film, which is made very much in the same spirit as Speed, or any number of mid-90's thrillers.-
Better yet, Scott's instantly identifiable shooting style - full of whirling dervish conversations and rapid-fire snap-zooms and quick-cuts - is less of a problem here than in his woeful remake of last year, The Taking of Pelham 123. (The absence of the over-cussing John Travolta helps considerably, as well.)
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But what regrettably remains is his penchant for lazy, hoary character-building and family relationships, resulting in countless reaction shots of daughters, wives and friends all viewing through clenched fists the heroics on their television sets at, among other places, Hooters. Yes, occasionally, the effect of Unstoppable is akin to witnessing a football watching party.
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Yet Denzel Washington and Chris Pine as the two unlikely heroes provide enough material to overcome the film's more queasy details and watching the two of them bicker and banter and finally unite to take on the speeding iron horse is a sporadically stimulating experience, the kind of which was absent throughout Scott's previous railway dabble.
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Just remember, there's no better (or cheaper) way to fix a marriage than to chase down a runaway train on television. [B-]
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LOL, love your ending line - "Just remember, there's no better (or cheaper) way to fix a marriage than to chase down a runaway train on television." Like any other Hollywood disaster movie - a quick (yet not effortless) fix it for relationships... I do so wish they'd put a little more into writing a decent script once and not just put it all on the explosions etc. Overall though, I enjoyed this movie as what it is - a Fox action flick. :)
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