No magical super heroes here, just working class railroad guys who risk their lives to stop a runaway train carrying flammable, toxic fuel that's headed for a dangerous elevated track in a Pennsylvania town. The train is number 777, going 75 mph with no engineer. The train is sure to derail, and hundreds will be killed.

Director Tony Scott is known for action and disaster films that have lots of breathtaking special effects but often leave something to be desired in terms of character development and story. No so here. Denzel Washington and Chris Pine play an engineer and conductor respectively, Denzel being a 28 year railroad veteran and Pine being a new young guy with only four months of experience. They're both family men. We get to know them well. We care about them, and that's what fuels the suspense.

Trains are big, powerful and scary, and we get plenty of scenes of 777 barrelling through railroad crossings and crashing into all kinds of stuff (including a horse trailer. Thankfully, the horses got out in the nick of time). And Scott uses real trains, not fakey CGI. All very thrilling, but it's the characters and the story that keep us interested.

Washington has been in some films that weren't so great. But has he ever turned in a bad performance? Nope. He's one of the most reliable, dedicated actors of our time. He takes his work seriously. Chris Pine is equally convincing.

You can't possibly watch this film without remembering the classic 1986 film _Runaway Train_ written by the legendary director Akira Kurosawa. _Unstoppable_ has one scene at the end that pays tribute to that fim, when Washington is standing atop of a railroad car with both arms upraised in victory, exactly as Jon Voight did at the end of _Runaway Train_.

_Runaway Train_ had a message about an escaped convict doing the honorable thing. In this film, working class people do the honorable thing. The corporate railroad executives are portrayed as unconscionable jerks. They call a meeting as the potential disaster is going on, and the main topic is how much their stock will be devalued if there is a crash and "collateral damage."

This is one of the best films of 2010, not just because of the amazing scenes, but because it's about real everyday people saving lives, not for heroism or accolades, but because it's the right thing to do. Inspiring. And no big spoiler: The ending is triumphant.

Nothing extravagant, or outlandish, or totally unrealistic.
At-a-glance, you'd expect a movie about trains to be kind-of lame, or boring, but I was really into this movie, pretty much from start to finish.

They add a couple bits of personal side story, to the two main characters, and generally I would find that to be tedious, pandering, wasteful, etc, but they didn't focus on it too long, or in a disingenuous way.
They briefly touched on it, a few times, throughout the film, and it was surprisingly well done.

Who would have thought that a movie about train engineers could be so engaging?
To all the jokers, out-there, making over-the-top movies, with terrible writing... take note...

Sincerity, and realism, work better 100% of the time.
This movie has replay value, and it'll be one that I recommend for years to come, for all ages.
Highly-Recommended! :)

When I saw Unstoppable in the theater when it came out I was really surprised by how much suspense it was able to create. The story is about courage and sacrifice by two train conductors Denzel Washington as Frank Barnes and Chris Pine as Will Colson who try to stop a runaway train.

The story is about a large train in Pennsylvania that gets loose with no operator on it. Barnes and Colson are tasked with stopping it before it hits the city of Stanton. Not only that but it’s carrying hazardous material. They create the tension in the film several ways. First there are the different attempts to stop the train. Then vehicles get thrown on the track. Most important however is the effort of Barnes and Colson.

A story about a runaway train may not seem an interesting enough topic to sit down for a film, but Unstoppable is a real thrill ride.

Contains spoilers in a sense.

At first I found this story 'inspired by true events' to be fun ride, if not a bit outlandish. But what I found really cool is a good deal of this story is taken straight up from CSX 8888 'Crazy eights' incident which happened in 2001 in Ohio. No last minute save at a hairpin turn, but there was a runaway train caused by someone who didn't set the switches right and got off the train. Two people running a different train did pull off on the side, disconnect their engine follow and couple with the runaway train from behind. They were a 47 year veteran and rookie conductor. The train company did try and fail with a portable derailer, and the cops did try to shoot the emergency fuel cut off switch. However, unlike the film the one car was able to slow the speeding train down to a slow enough speed for someone else to board the runaway engine and stop it. Also, there was a backup train ready to join the tug against the runaway if needed. No one was hurt in the actual event, and the two men in a train didn't go off on their own accord chasing the train. But I am not going to begrudge them the drama on this one. Especially because it was inspired by, but not based on a true story. Overall, pretty good flick that matched the facts better than many that say they are based on a true story.

I don't know how this movie gets such high reviews. It feels like it was made for TV. It's a dumb story about the incompetence of dumb people. There's not much of a plot. We just get 90 minutes of manic camera movements, spinning, shaking, frantically zooming in and out, and extreme close-ups. Some of the worst cinematography I've ever seen.

As someone who knows almost nothing about trains, I find it shocking that they're not controlled by a central computer system. I'm pretty sure BART was fully automated back in the '70s, yet this train in Pennsylvania still hasn't been computerized over 30 years later? Hard to take seriously. Seems like it would be an easy cost-saving measure.

As a side note, Pennsylvania is a depressing place for a movie. I'm thankful I don't live in such an industrial wasteland, surrounded by incompetent idiots who all should have been automated out of their jobs 30 years ago.

Wow! Wow! Wow! This movie started off building up the story line and you just think its going to be about a runaway train, not exciting, but wrong! This movie with this out of control train carrying chemicals had me on the edge of my seat. All the actors in this one, did an amazing job pulling you into the movie. Denzel and his co-star was fabulous in the movie to save the day. Just when you think its over, its not the details and the scenes they did brought this movie to another level of excitement and suspense. You don't want to miss this one!

As much as I like Denzel's movies, this one doesn't excel in my opinion. I think the biggest issue I have with it are the directorial executions. I looked into who directed this film and I was surprised that the director, Tony Scott, has directed quite a few movies I enjoy.

The main problem for me are the overly aggressive camera shots. You get zoom ups, pans and camera rotations around characters all the time. It's very excessive and distasteful to me. I guess maybe it was done to try and elevate the excitement but it doesn't work in my opinion and just makes the movie seem like it's trying way too hard.

Aside from that the casting seems well picked. Had the movie been shot in a normal manner without the crazy amount of "special" panning/zooming in moments I think I would give it a 4 star.

This movie is based on an actual event ... a runaway train racing uncontrolled into a highly populated area. There is a lot of artistic license taken with the personal dialog and actions between the main characters, as one would expect but that does not in any way take away from the intensity of an event like this, especially knowing that it has actually happened. Denzel Washington is perfect for this movie, the action is non-stop and helps drive home the serious nature of such a hazardous and terrifying incident. This is a good one!