Unstoppable: film

[Naïve Old Fart 13,020]

Worthless.

[Incanus 5,890]

Could you be more specific?

[Quintus 6,494]

Is that the train one with Captain Kirk and the black guy out of Glory?

I quite enjoyed it.

[Naïve Old Fart 13,020]

Yes, it is, Quint (loving the new avatar, btw).

This film is vaccous, unintelligent, cliched, stupid, lazy, and crass. It has absolutely nothing to say, and it has no idea of how to say it. There is not one single original frame of film, or one original idea, in "Unstoppable".

I know that not every film can aspire to be Bergman-esque, or Fellini-seque, or Lean-esque, but they could, for the sake of the poor audiences, at least try to.

"Unstoppable" is not bad, per se, but it is a grade-1 example of a modern film - maximum return, for the minimum of effort. Its main crime is that is is devoid of the one thing that a film needs to succeed - integrety.

[indy4 160]

I enjoyed it when I saw it in theatres.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

Unstoppable is a great movie. Tony Scott was a master of action. It's harmless and fun, and that's all it was trying to be.

[Quintus 6,494]

To be honest Koray I thought it was better than harmless fun. I thought it was a high quality entry in the runaway genre, as efficiently staged as Speed and just as tense. I'm glad it "didn't have anything to say", since that isn't what I look for in that sort of movie. I just want to be thrilled, and I was.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

I didn't mean to degrade it by saying harmless fun. The fact that Richard mentioned the likes of Fellini and Bergman to say he wasn't expecting that level says exactly the opposite, in my opinion. It's a Tony Scott action thriller. There are certain things to be expected of that, and I thought it was much better than his take of Pelham 123.

[Naïve Old Fart 13,020]

What I meant, Koray, was that, IMO, every work of art should at least strive to be more than it is. If it tries and fails, then no-one can think any less of it. "Unstoppable" (and countless other films like it - yes, I'm talking to you, Mr. Bay)) didn't even try.

I would far prefer to eat chateau briand over a Big Mac, but I realize that there is more Big Mac out there, than there is chateau briand. As long as there is a market for these kind of films, then people will go to see them. These films serve a very distinct purpose, in that they keep a lot of people in work, and that can only be a good thing. Perhaps my comment of "worthless" was a little too hasty, but I stand by what I posted later.

[Quintus 6,494]

Steak is my favourite dish Richard, and chateaubriand is as delicious as it gets, but sometimes you just can't beat a good burger

[Naïve Old Fart 13,020]

Point taken, Quint. I like a lot of films that other people think are trash ("Highlander", "Dune", "The Hindenburg", etc.). It's horses for courses, at the end of the day.