Unstoppable Blu-Ray Review

Unstoppable is a film that I think flew under most people’s radar. I mean, it got fairly decent reviews and pulled in $170 million worldwide, but most people I spoke to haven’t seen this one. And that’s a shame because Unstoppable was one of the stronger action-thrillers that came out in 2010. There’s just something about Denzel Washington and trains that works so well (see The Taking Of Pelham 123). With Tony Scott behind the camera, Unstoppable has a frenetic and high tensioned feel to it that will keep you undoubtedly pinned to your seat, the whole way through. Strap in and hold on for your dear life because Unstoppable is one hell of a ride.

Starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine, the film tells the true story of a runaway freight train and the two men who try to stop it. Denzel plays Frank Barnes, a veteran railroad engineer and Chris Pine plays Will Colson, a rookie train conductor. When a runaway train carrying toxic cargo starts to head towards a small town, the city goes into panic mode. If the train makes it to the town, a sharp curve will derail it, causing a toxic spill, destroying the area and taking thousands of lives.

Will and Frank are on a separate locomotive when they hear about the runaway train. One thing leads to another and under the guidance of yardmaster Connie Hooper (Rosario Dawson), they are tasked with the job of trying to bring the train back under control. Now they’re in a race against time as they rush to stop the train before it destroys an entire town.

The film is half Speed, half Mission Impossible, with the usual flair and edge that a Denzel Washington/Tony Scott picture has. It’s a film that rarely slows down, if ever. Kinetic, tense and thrilling throughout, Unstoppable works on just about every level. Breathtaking stunts and stunning cinematography combine for a visceral thrill ride for the full 99 minute runtime. Scott uses all his tricks, from the stylized images to the frenetic camerawork. It’s a Tony Scott film through and through, and it’s one of his best yet.

Check out the rest of our Unstoppable theatrical review.

On Blu-Ray, the film is even better. Fox has put together a great package for this one. It really comes to life in high-definition and it sounds and looks fantastic. Clarity is superb and gives an astounding sharpness to the picture. Detail comes through effectively and the stunning cinematography shines. Audio is also tremendous as all the trains provide thunderous roars, turning a piece of machinery into a true beast. All other vehicles sound superb as well, whether it be helicopters, pickup trucks etc. The score pumps intensity throughout the movie, constantly keeping the stakes raised and never letting up. Dialogue never gets lost in the mix and the film’s Oscar nomination for Best Sound Editing is well deserved.

Special features include:

• Audio Commentaries
• The Fastest Track: Unleashing Unstoppable
• Derailed: Anatomy of a Scene
• Hanging Off the Train: Stunt Work
• On the Rails with the Director and Cast
• Theatrical Trailer
• Sneak Peak
• BD-Live Exclusive: Feeling the Heat – Unstoppable Pyrotechnics
• IMDb Live Lookup

We get a solid amount of features here and they’re all great. To start things off, we have two commentaries, one with just Scott and one with Scott and writer Mark Bomback, who discuss the script and dissect every scene. Both are great and offer a lot of insight into the film as well as providing some nice trivia tidbits.

The Fastest Track: Unleashing Unstoppable, Derailed: Anatomy of a Scene, Hanging Off the Train: Stunt Work and On the Rails with the Director and Cast are all making of features and they’re all great! The first one is a 30 minute behind the scenes look at the film that covers exactly what you’d want it to. It looks at the research that went into the film, location scouting, how the stunt work was done, how they filmed some of the scenes without using CGI etc. It’s a thorough and interesting look at the film.

The Anatomy of a Scene piece shows how they pulled off the train derailment without CGI and considering it’s one of the cooler scenes in the film, it’s worth a watch. Hanging Off The Train: Stunt Work, gives us more of an in-depth look at some of the impressive stunts in the film and On The Rials is a conversation with Scott, Pine, Washington and Dawson. They discuss the development of the film, how they got involved, why they joined etc.

When all is said and done, I was very impressed with both the film and the Blu-Ray disc itself. It’s hard not to be entertained by Unstoppable, even if you’re not down with Tony Scott’s directing style. It’s a pure thrill ride, all the way through, and it never lets up. The film looks fantastic in high definition and the features are great, some of the most satisfying that I’ve seen in a while. A purchase here is a no brainer, go out and buy it! I can’t see anyone being disappointed.