I have to admit that if “Unstoppable” had been directed by anyone other than Tony Scott, I probably never would have seen it. That seems a shame, but still probably justified, because nobody could have directed this movie as well as he did. Audiences (whether familiar with Scott's work or not) weren't sold on the premise, either. It wasn't an out and out failure, but it didn't make a profit until being released internationally. Probably the reason people skipped it is because of the absurdly simple premise: An unmanned runaway train has to be stopped. It didn't help that “Saturday Night Live” did a ruthlessly cynical (funny, but ruthlessly cynical) spoof trailer that positioned the film as deserving to be ridiculed.
The truth is (and this is the most impressive part of the movie), the simplicity of the story – in other words, its purity – is what makes it so great. One, present the problem. Two, try solutions. Three, eventual success. It's actually a perfect model for story telling. How creative could a story about a runaway train be while remaining realistic? “Unstoppable” is as good as a movie like gets. This is not a dumb movie, just simple. Keep in mind, the number one movie of the same year was “Avatar,” which was complex, but stupid.
As usual, it's the performances that give it gravitas. Tony Scott's favorite leading man Denzel Washington returns as the earnest blue-collar hero and newcomer Chris Pine is the promising sidekick. As the SNL sketch plays up, the major rift between our protagonists is their age/experience, but the movie doesn't rely on that after initially addressing it. In fact, somewhat refreshingly, these two get along pretty quickly (even before facing their challenge together) with occasional friction peppered throughout. You know, like a real working relationship.
The standout performance is Rosario Dawson. Always great in everything she does, her character as the yardmaster is well realized as the woman who's clearly not taken seriously in such a male-dominated industry. She's tough, she's smart, and she gets stuff done. You can see her trying to maintain a sense of decorum to compensate for the built-in bias against her while pushing back against the status quo due to what's at stake. Performances like this are the real reason why it's unfortunate that a movie like this is overlooked.
But, of course, the saddest part of “Unstoppable” is that it's Tony Scott's final film. What an irony, given the title. With the possible exception of Scott's family (who have kept details of his final written words private), nobody know the reason for his suicide. There were a handful of projects he had in process and it's doubly tragic we'll never see them. We did eventually get to see the “Top Gun” sequel helmed by another director and, not only beautifully executed, but dedicated to Tony Scott's memory. Scott had eyes on a remake of “The Warriors,” which we all know would have been incredible. Another was an ambitious adaptation of the true story of Emma McCune, a British foreign aid worker who married a war lord. The one I think I would have most like to have seen though was a translation of Clifford Irving's historical fiction epic “Tom Mix & Pancho Villa,” which Scott himself described as a combination of “Lawrence of Arabia” meets “The Wild Bunch.”
Alas, these will have to be left to our imagination as they were left to his. In conclusion of this year-long chronological reacquaintance with Tony Scott's repertoire, right now at this very moment, here is the list of all of his feature films in my order of preference:
Thank you, Tony Scott. I'm sad that you're gone, but I'm happy your movies live on.
