OVP: Unstoppable (2010)

Film: Unstoppable (2010)
Stars: Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson, Ethan Suplee, Kevin Dunn
Director: Tony Scott
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Sound Editing)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Some films are revolutionary, meant to make an enormous artistic contribution, changing the world around us.  Some are there to make a social message, forcing us to reconsider our firmly held beliefs.  And some films are just there to show big explosions, long extended effects showcases, and cliched action movie bonding.  If you couldn't already tell where I was going with this, Unstoppable is the latter.

The movie (loosely based on the 2001 CSX 8888 Incident in Ohio) tells the tale of two men, Frank (Washington), a longtime railroading veteran, and Will (Pine), an upstart that has gotten into the industry through a combination of formal training and nepotism, neither of which sit well with the tested-in-the-field Frank.  While they are off tussling with each other, with Frank hassling Will about Will's lack of knowledge, an unmanned train carrying explosives starts heading down the track, on a collision course with a major metropolitan area.  The movie, of course doesn't make it so simple that they go with the clear solution (that Washington and Pine will save the day), but instead give us about an hour's worth of false starts, crashes, and men hanging limply from helicopters.  Along the way, of course, Will and Frank gain a grudging respect for each other that blossoms into friendship.  I didn't feel the need to give a spoiler alert because A) it's a true story and B) it's a story that's been told ten thousand times onscreen.

The entire time I was watching this, I kept hearkening back to that Saturday Night Live skit with Scarlett Johansson where they made fun of this film and its hackneyed cliches, with Jay Pharoah doing a pitch perfect Denzel Washington, and Taran Killam, well, this wasn't Killam's best impression but he can look something like Pine, so there's at least that.  The reason I kept thinking about it was that it was a spot-on impression of the actual film (to the point that "spoof" may not have even been necessary).  The movie relies heavily on easy plot points regarding the main characters (one with a splintered marriage, the other a widower with two daughters with whom he enjoys a less-than-solid relationship) and villains so cartoonish they should be wearing a Snidely Whiplash costume to complete the ensemble.  Seriously-the Kevin Dunn character is so over-the-top idiotic that you sort of wonder if he ticked Tony Scott off on the first day of filming.

The movie does have some upsides-Denzel Washington, though he could do this in his sleep and has played this role for the past decade, has the ease and regular charm that only a true movie star possesses, and when he's throwing out banter, it's intensely watchable.  Pine, on the other hand, doesn't have Washington's natural abilities, and so he never really connects with the audience.  In a land of surprisingly talented Garrett Hedlunds and far sexier Chris Hemsworths, Pine had better hope that the Star Trek franchise stays successful, as his non-Trek performances have not shown much range for him in comparison to his contemporaries.  The film also has Rosario Dawson, an actress who always seems to elevate her performances way above her scripts (seriously, can some casting director give this woman a break and put her in a film that's worthy of her?), trudging through as the voice of reason whom every senior level executive discounts even though she's right at every turn.

The problem with these types of films, though, is that while they need suspense, they just don't really have them.  You know there's no way that Pine will die before he makes up with his wife, so the entire sequence with him trying to connect the trains and whether he has passed away is just silly-it would have been a far bolder move creatively if they had let one of the main characters perish, and in a real twist, the younger one, but this is not a bold script.  This is a series of explosions trying to be held together by a plot.

The film is relatively more successful on the effects front, as the chase sequences are impressive, and this film serves as an example of what I was talking about earlier this week-an Oscar category for Stunt Work would have done well to remember this movie.  While it was hard to sort out what was sound mixing and sound editing (CGI was clearly a factor, but it was obvious that some of the scenes were real life trains), the sound work in the film is strong overall, with the mixers likely just missing out over the editors (though, for Kevin O'Connell's sake, I wonder if he was happy he missed out on another nomination for mixing, if only because he would have certainly lost to Inception and that would have made it 21 straight losses).

Still, some impressive sound work doesn't make up for paint-by-numbers storytelling, so I come away from Unstoppable disappointed, which is my cue to turn it over to you-what did you think of the movie?  Do you also think that Chris Pine may be a bit limited as an actor, or do you think that he just hasn't found his On the Road yet?  And when is someone going to give Rosario Dawson the role that lands her some much-deserved accolades?  Sound off in the comments!