I
love being surprised by movies and "Unstoppable" surprised me. Oh there
is nothing new about the film and you know from the opening scene, if
not before, what is going to happen and how it will happen.

Trains
have been a major set up of movies since The Great Train Robbery and
certainly run-away trains, buses, boats, planes, cars, you name it, have
always been part of action thrillers.

Yes, there is the older guy about to retire, in this case Denzel Washington, and the young wise arse newcomer, here played by Chris
Pine, who really is the star of the movie. The former is a widower with
two daughters who work at Hooters and the latter is a married man, with a
young child, whose wife has taken a restraining order out on him. I am not familiar with Pine but he grabs you from the first sight of his fantastic green/blue eyes.

Aside
from the two guys we have a run-away train without anyone in it and,
this is no surprise, highly inflammable chemicals in 4 of the cars and a
hair spin curve in the tracks coming up.

What
surprised me? Mainly, though I knew what was going to happen, I really
got caught up in the film knowing a Hollywood ending was coming. The
script, by Mark Bomback, had
unsuspected humor, in one case laugh out loud humor, when police shoot
at the train! The filming of the trains, speeding down the tracks, our heros being very heroic, is action packed directed by Tony Scott. There is a
friendship between Washington and Pine that is better than some
chemistry by other leads in films.

Based
on a true story that took place in Pennsylvania I don't recall
hearing/reading about it but after seeing the film I do want to get more
information and copare the real and reel story.

Is
this a 'must see'? Not by any means but if you want to enjoy an hour
and a half getting caught up in a run-away train thriller and forgetting
the outside world this is for you.