Unstoppable, Unviewable

I will admit, I knew going into the movie that there was a good possibility that the film would be in the classic ‘cheesy disaster flick’ genre. And with my father, as big a train nut as can be without having worked in the industry, having noted that there were some inaccuracies to what would happen in the movie technically did not deter me from seeing the movie because I did not grow up by his side enjoying the passion for them and still have great respect for it. I still figured it would provide for good show on the big screen and it did, after all, have pretty good actors in it with Denzel Washington and Rosario Dawson.

It was a decent enough movie and I am sure most would find it an enjoyable watch as apparently the critics have given it decent reviews.

For me however; the movie was ruined by lazy writing and directing. I was disappointed that so much of the story was told and action shown through phony local media news reports. Utilizing that once or twice in discriminate fashion would have done well to display the scope and urgency of the situation, but it became a lame crutch to provide information, such as names and background of some minimal characters, and ‘narration’ of what was occurring during the action sequences. Sure, we have all seen the crazed media coverage in current events, but even the rate in which information was disseminated was far from realistic.


Those in charge chose the wrong path
several times while making this movie

For those who enjoy television movies of the week or cliché disaster movies, it is an acceptable tool, but for those who enjoy quality films it is a great disappointment that the producers chose to use this method of storytelling. It is especially tragic considering the quality of the casting in the movie.

The parts of the film featuring Washington, Dawson and, to some extent, Kevin Dunn (Dawson’s superior in the movie) and Chris Pine were of good quality. I feel that if a good writer had been working on the script, they could have found better ways to fill out the film and the characters. It felt as though the producers ran out of time and took shortcuts to fill gaps in the storyline to fill the standard length of a feature film.

In addition to the news no-no, the film producers, director and writers made the other ridiculous mistake of using kids. Why is it that every disaster type movie has to feature mob kids on a field trip in a bus, boat, plain or, in this case, a train? Was it not enough that cities and such were in danger?

The worst part is that in addition to the predictable using of the field trip to teach train safety is that it provided the rationale for an expert to be on hand at the regional command center, awaiting the children, to conveniently assist Dawson’s character. He was smart, knowing not only train safety information, but also managed to be an expert in chemical information pertinent to what was on the runaway train - just another example of simplistic writing.