Unstoppable suspense

MANILA, Philippines - Moviemakers never run out of dramatic ideas about stories set in a moving automobile, ship, airplane and train, and now we have the current Hollywood blockbuster Unstoppable, which follows the tradition of other movies about deadly train rides.

But first, a look at the history. Movie lovers especially of the previous generations will run out of breath recalling some of these great train pictures seen on the big screen. Among those that quickly come to mind: The Great Train Robbery (the silent film in 1903 and the 1979 version), The Train (1964, with Burt Lancaster), Von Ryan’s Express (1965, Frank Sinatra), Murder on the Orient Express (1974, the all-star Agatha Christie murder mystery), The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three (1974 and 2009), Silver Streak (1976, with Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor, and the very recently departed Jill Clayburgh), Runaway Train (1985, with Jon Voight).

Unstoppable is closer in content to the all-star The Cassandra Crossing, with Richard Harris, Sophia Loren and Ava Gardner, which in 1976 became the all-time top-grossing foreign movie in the Philippines, outgrossing previous record-holders, namely, Earthquake (1974), The Sound of Music (1965), and The Ten Commandments (1956). Cassandra is a journey aboard a train that carries a deadly virus that could be a weapon in biological warfare.

Even closer to Unstoppable is a similar road movie but the means of transportation is not a locomotive but a jeep. In The Wages of Fear, a French classic made in 1952 by Henri-Georges Clouzot, Yves Montand leads three suicidal men aboard a jeep full of nitroglycerin as it wends its way in the dangerous, treacherous jungle of South America; the chemical is intended to end a raging fire in an oil rig several miles away. What distinguishes Wages of Fear from other suspenseful movies is the care which Clouzot lavishes on characterization.

Unstoppable, like Wages, is like a breath-taking rollercoaster ride to prospective doomsday. But the filmmakers try to lift the picture from mere cheap thrills with personal dramas or subplots about two men living humdrum lives — for wee bit characterization.

The director is Tony Scott who helmed the remake of Pelham One, Two, Three as well as Hunger, True Romance and Gladiator.

The drama and suspense focus on a runaway freight train that stretches for half a mile hurtling through the Pennsylvania railway at an accelerating, breakneck pace. And as in Wages of Fear, this fast-moving train carries enough lethal gas and chemical liquid to blow up a city, like an uncontrolled missile or a large meteor hurtling down to earth.

Scott uses an established formula to please the crowd. The men whose fate it is to stop the unstoppable represent different generations, one a black engineer, played by Denzel Washington (who isn’t required to do much but has presumably been motivated to do this movie to keep his A-list status in the biz), and the other a heartthrob, younger conductor, Chris Pine (the space traveler full of bravado in Star Trek).

And the villain? Why, there’s always Big Business personified by a devious rail company owner. He doesn’t care about the destruction in lives, property and nature that his train will create so long as vested interest is protected. When he is put in his proper place, the audience during Tuesday’s premiere at the Glorietta cheers loudly.

Two other highlights send the crowd clapping hands: An impending collision with a train full of schoolchildren, and a snaky obstacle course consisting of oil rigs (just like in heavily populated Pandacan, Manila). Yes, it’s like a video game with human drama about guys selfless enough to be heroes. Am sure most everyone in the audience at some time in his life has fantasized being in such a heroic situation and later enjoying the glory vicariously.

How does the movie end? No spoilers, please. But there are only two alternatives: One is the obligatory, over-the-top, fiery and explosive Hollywood finale which should be a sight to behold. But devastating.

The other is less spectacular but no less dramatic — the common man triumphing against all odds. In any case, those who want a good time in the moviehouse are advised to go see this: Action has never been this unstoppable; the suspense heart-pounding and relentless. And the ending is satisfying.