Unstoppable

I went to see Unstoppable yesterday, and believe me it was worth the zero dollars I spent on it. Tony Scott's latest effort is nothing original or artistically brilliant, but it's a fine matinee thriller that delivers what it promises.

In northern Pennsylvania, a train is by a lazy employee (Ethan Suplee) and begins coasting down the railroad track. The situation escalates to disaster proportions when the train picks up speed, is discovered to have toxic chemicals onboard, and is headed through a heavily populated area - culimnating an "impossible" railorad curve in the (fictional) town of Stanton where it's certain to derail. While train dispatcher Connie Hooper (Rosario Dawson) and her boss (Kevin Dunn) bicker over how to stop the train, odd couple engineers Frank Barnes (Denzel Washington) and Will Colson (Scott Pine) take matters into their own hands, hoping to hitch their engine onto the runaway train and stop it themselves.

Unstoppable isn't exactly groundbreaking stuff, with a fairly predictable (though "Inspired by True Events") story, facile character drama and more cliches then you can shake a stick at. But it's slick, well-made, and gripping throughout, generating the right amount of tension as the plot rolls along: the last twenty minutes or so will have you on the edge of your seat (hoping that quote gets nabbed for the TV spots). Scott's direction is fine, aside from some aggravatingly-choppy editing. The cast is good, with Denzel Washington and Chris Pine (Star Trek) having great chemistry and making a compelling pair of heroes. And it's always nice to see Rosario Dawson (Rent), even if she remains fully clothed throughout.

What else is there to say? It's not a movie worth dissecting in depth, it's a fun piece of brainless popcorn entertainment if you have nothing better to do.