It’s hard to imagine its “inspired by true events” and at the same time certainly gives new meaning to the words runaway train. The place is Southern Pennsylvania, where Will (Chris Pine) is training today. He’s “union…”a shop steward; and his boss is a railroad engineer and veteran, Frank (Denzel Washington) twenty-eight years in “railroading.” His one rule “If you’re gonna do something, do it right. If not, ask me.” But when Dewey (Ethan Suplee) disengages a train before he can hit the throttle (or some language about how to change tracks and maneuver freight cars) this “Coaster” becomes a rolling train, picking up speed, and soon off and running. Way to fast. And solo! Back at dispatcher headquarters Connie (Rosario Dawson) sees where this is all headed – and I’m not just talking into a heavily populated town – but how the corporate big boys are willing to risk lives in order to save a few bucks. As things get worse and speed picks up, things become a bad combination of human error and just plain bad luck. The initial problem with this film is that there’s a lot of cookie cutter sub-plots and ticking clocks carefully placed to ensure drama. 5000 gallons of fuel on board, X amount of time to get from point A to point B, a man whose wife’s died of cancer, a man whose wife is estranged, children who won’t speak to another, a guy who’s going to miss his court hearing, a train full of field trip children, etc. etc, etc. And sometimes too much ‘etc.’ But after awhile, when the story begins to really move (no pun intended), we come to terms with it being just a simple story with characters – much like say a coal miner – that we wouldn’t ordinarily know on a daily basis who manage to take us someplace we’ve never been. And with dialog we wouldn’t recognize “Throw that switch!” So it’s almost refreshing without gimmick or special effects. Not to mention when it comes to Denzel, there’s always a level of authority in his performance that tells us he’s in-control and we should feel safe in our seats. Director Tony Scott and Denzel Washington have a big history of movies together. But as far as train films go, and there being two in 2010, I’d choose Denzel’s other railway adventure The Taking of Pelham,1,2,3” over this. Three tiaras
