Hello all, it’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog (I say this every single time). I recently saw the new movie Unstoppable, and I thought it might be appropriate to provide my thoughts in a quick review. I will sum up my reaction in one rail safety related phrase: if you have the opportunity to see Unstoppable, I suggest you stop, look, and listen. The erection I maintained through almost 2 hours of cinema was, in a word, unstoppable.
This is a movie that will appeal to railfans and losers who don’t like trains alike. It has all the things normal people like: drama, suspense, a hint of sexual tension, Rosario Dawson, action, callous corporate asshole bad guys, and a budding friendship that spans both race and age-related boundaries. But make no mistake fans of rail safety: this is your movie. The protagonists are literally heroes of rail safety (was Unstoppable inspired by this blog?). This movie also has magnificent shots of modern diesel locomotive powerhouses such as a GE AC4400CW, and reliable oldies like the EMD SD 40-2s (site note: I was super thrilled to see the classic “Dash” as the locomotive that is used to slow down the out of control GE, and I think Diane Segall, wherever she is, would be happy as well).
I won’t go into too much detail about the plot because I expect anyone who is reading this to go out and see it. The movie is loosely based on the events of the famous “Crazy Eights” unnamed train incident in 2001 (of which we are all too familiar I am sure). Fatass/scientologist Ethan Suplee plays an inept (and fat) hostler, who when moving a freight train sitting in a rail yard, neglects to connect the air hose between the locomotive and the rest of the cars. He then, in an act that goes against all principles of rail safety, steps out of the cab to manually turn the switch to move the train onto a side track. Predictably, he can’t get his fat ass back on the train, and just like that, you have a missile the size of the Chrysler Building. Suplee and a coworker say a quick prayer to lord Xenu and try to chase the train down, unsuccessfully.
Malcolm X (played by Denzel Washington), another train’s engineer, and the new Captain James T. Kirk (played by Chris Pine), that train’s conductor, are forced to look beyond their differences and track down the run away train. They are guided by yardmaster Rosario Dawson, while a corporate big wig attempts to thwart their efforts. They are also assisted by a Federal Rail Safety Inspector, which is pretty fucking sweet. Denzel is as smooth as ever (and seriously, how was this movie not named Training Day 2?), and Pine is much more of a badass piloting a train than the USS Enterprise.
One enjoyable side plot (that is marketed as a major piece of the film but really isn’t) is a train full of school children whose class trip puts them square in the path of the runaway train. What is the primary lesson of their field trip? The most important lesson that we all could hope to learn: rail fucking safety.
real train horns must be used responsibly. When a train approaches a highway the driver must honk the horn to make the agent aware of the train approaching train and so he begins the signal to stop vehicles on the road. Its misuse or no use can result in fatal accidents.
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