Review by Gary Tooze

Production:

Disc:

Video:

Audio:

• Derailed: Anatomy of a Scene (10:01)

• On the Rails with the Director and Cast (13:25)

• Tracking the Story: Unstoppable - Script Development

• Theatrical trailer (2:26)

• Digital Copy "How to"

• Sneak Peek

Digital Copy

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Description: Hang on for the ride of your life as Oscar Winner Denzel Washington and Chris Pine (Star Trek) team up for the year’s most electrifying action-thriller. A runaway train, transporting deadly, toxic chemicals, is barreling down on Scranton, Pennsylvania, and only two men can stop it: a veteran engineer (Washington) and a young conductor (Pine). Thousands of lives hang in the balance as these ordinary heroes attempt to chase down one million tons of hurtling steel and prevent an epic disaster. Helmed by visionary director Tony Scott (Man on Fire), this story inspired by true events delivers excitement and suspense that are — unstoppable!

***

 

 

The Film:

Mr. Scott is partial to blunt, rapid cuts; whipping pans; and saturated colors. He likes twirling the camera around characters, like a sugared-up tot running 360s on a playground, a hyperactive visual style that can turn the screen into a blur of pulsating color. Here, working with the cinematographer Ben Seresin and some ace sound technicians, he creates an unexpectedly rich world of chugging, rushing trains slicing across equally beautiful industrial and natural landscapes. There is something mesmerizing about these trains and the men who run them, something nostalgic too, because they seem like history machines, summoning up a past lived and also imagined, as in, for starters, “The Great Train Robbery” (1903), “North by Northwest” (1959) and “Speed” (1994).

Excerpt from Manohla Dargis at the NY Times located HERE

How Scott deals with his "chase" is not for me to reveal here, but although the possibilities of two trains on one track would seem to be limited, he and Bomback are truly ingenious. They employ a kind of logical lateral thinking: The trains can move only in certain ways, but those ways may not be as obvious as we assume.

Not that those are terms we're thinking of during the action. The photography and sound here are very effective in establishing that a train is an enormously heavy thing, and once in motion wants to continue. We knew that. But Scott all but crushes us with the weight of the juggernaut. We are spellbound. And we sure hope those little kids are saved.

Excerpt from Roger Ebert at the Chicago Sun-Times located HERE

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

As theatrically described - 'saturated' is the operative word for Unstoppable on Blu-ray from Fox. It's a thick, heavy, image with color vibrancy and excellent contrast.  The image quality is impressive if a tad overly brilliant. It certainly suits the film though. From what I can gather this looked quite similar theatrically - and is reasonably typical of a Tony Scott production - meaning visually excessive. This is dual-layered and has a very high video bitrate. Skin tones seem true and the image is essentially without a flaw.  This would probably be considered to be reaching the heights of the format's capabilities for a modern film to 1080P. Detail is strong and there is some depth shown. It is easy to discern as HD and I expect it blows the SD DVD away.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A barn-burner with significant force supporting the expected action/aggression scenes all embodied in a powerhouse DTS-HD Master 5.1 track at 3942 kbps. The original score by Harry Gregson-Williams suits the film and balances well between the cornucopia of action interspersed with more passive scenes. There is some heavy bass here - enough that it pulses through your body as it reverberates to the back of the room. Obviously train sounds, metal and a host of other imposing effect sounds exhibit phenomenal range and depth. My Momitsu has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked.

Extras :

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
If you are in the mood - this can be a very entertaining film. No pretension - you get exactly what you might expect from this genre and there is a modicum of fun along the way. Chris Pine continues to impress and Denzel is Denzel. Just like the other Tony Scott train flic - with Mr. Washington - from 2009; The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3  - Unstoppable is an exhaustive ride. You throw everything the Hollywood express has at its financial means and it can, but not always, produces something worth viewing. The Blu-ray gives an abundant, if predictable, night in the home theater. Popcorn would be suitable. Enjoy! 

Gary Tooze

February 16th, 2011