'Unstoppable' candidate for year's best
By Matt Grantz, Student Life Editor
December 8 , 2010
 The story of a highly dangerous runaway train with the potential to kill and the efforts of regular railroad workers to stop the train make for the thrilling, action-packed adventure “Unstoppable.”
“Unstoppable” starts simply enough as various train engines of the fictional Allegheny and West Virginia Railroad (AVWR) are shown at two different rail yards, one in the north and the other in the south. Afterwards, we meet railroad employees Will Colson (Chris Pine) and Frank Barnes (Denzel Washington). Colson is a rookie conductor just four months out of training, while Barnes is a 28-year veteran train engineer. The two work together for the day and end up having quite an eventful time.
As those two depart the southern yard to pick up their load of freight cars for the day, a major problem is developing at the northern yard. As two employees at the yard move a train off the main tracks, the one standing on the train notices a problem and jumps off to fix it. Unfortunately, after he fixes the problem, the train picks up speed because he has incorrectly set the brake and he can’t jump back on, meaning the train is rolling unmanned on the tracks.
The incident is soon reported to the higher-ups who believe the train will slow down and stop due to standard safety featureson the train. Unfortunately, they don’t know the features weren’t connected properly and the train picks up speed instead. The situation is soon made even worse when it’s discovered that several cars on the runaway contain a dangerous chemical. After several other attempts fail to stop the runaway train, Colson and Barnes are forced to take action on their own.
The entire situation creates an exciting, drama-packed atmosphere for the moviegoer to enjoy. Additionally, the audience can also appreciate the local color because the movie was filmed locally for the most part. The special effects were also well done and convincing. The movie is also believable since it is based on, though not necessarily about, a similar incident that happened in Ohio in 2001.
The only problem with the movie was that the Pennsylvania State Police cars shown were painted totally differently from real Pennsylvania State Police cars, a distraction once I noticed it.
Overall, “Unstoppable” was a well made movie that was entertaining enough to be named the best movie I’ve seen in the last year, so much so that I would gladly watch it again.
 
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