This fast-paced action drama is "inspired by true events." That sends a chill down our spines from the outset. An inept engineer (Ethan Suplee), who has no respect for his job or what he is doing, sets a locomotive in full motion and leaves the cab as it transforms from a "coaster" to a runaway train. Yardmaster Connie Hooper (Rosario Dawson) is in charge of dealing with the ensuing chaos as the train threatens a trainload of school kids, smashes through vehicles, and threatens the many small towns in Pennsylvania with its toxic load of chemicals. The corporate spokesperson for the train company (Kevin Dunn) chooses two lamebrain schemes to stop the runaway train. They both fail miserably and cause even more dread among the citizens in communities along the tracks — all of whom are receiving minute-by-minute coverage by Fox News and it local affiliates.
Director Tony Scott keeps Unstoppable focused on the speeding train but adds a quality missed in many action dramas — a respect for the plight of underpaid and under-appreciated working-class employees of the railroad company, which, like all other American corporations, is mainly interested in its stock holders and how they might respond to a terrible tragedy.
The two men who are cast in the role of heroes are Frank (Denzel Washington), a veteran engineer whose daughters work at Hooters to pay for college, and Will (Chris Pine), an angry young man who is in the midst of a dispute with his wife, who has a restraining order against him. Both men are stressed and depressed to be working with each other on this particular day. But they manage to avoid a head-on collision with the runaway train, and then begin to put in place their own plan for catching up to the other train and slowing it down. They are given some helpful advice by a visiting federal safety investigator (Kevin Corrigan). It is easy to cheer for these working-class heroes who are willing to put their lives on the line for citizens they do not know.
