Unstoppable (2010) on Netflix
A switching error sends locomotive 777 rolling with thirty-nine cars, eight of them loaded with toxic chemicals. Engineer Frank Barnes and conductor Will Colson are working the same line.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb6.8/10220,918 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes87%
Trailer
Plot summary
Locomotive 777 leaves an Allegheny and West Virginia Railroad yard in southern Pennsylvania with thirty-nine cars and nobody aboard after a switching mistake, and it keeps rolling on full power. Yardmaster Connie Hooper, who first takes it for a coasting train, sends the yard crew after it and calls in state police to block the crossings. Federal inspector Werner reports that phenol, a toxic and flammable chemical, is among the cargo, and that a derailment near a populated area would be catastrophic; operations vice president Oscar Galvin is alerted. On the same line, in locomotive 1206, are engineer Frank Barnes, a veteran facing a forced early retirement, and conductor Will Colson, a rookie. Will's wife, Darcy, has a restraining order against him.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Unstoppable (2010)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- When 20th Century Fox tried to cut costs by asking Denzel Washington to shave $4 million off his $20 million fee, Washington refused and withdrew from the project that July, citing lost patience with the lack of a start date, before Fox lured him back two weeks later with a revised offer.
- The real runaway ran for two hours at up to 51 mph before a second locomotive coupled onto it and slowed it to 11 mph, at which point CSX trainmaster Jon Hosfeld ran alongside the train, climbed aboard, and shut it down himself.
- In the real incident police tried to engage the runaway's red fuel cutoff button by shooting at it, but three shots mistakenly hit the red fuel cap, and it had no effect anyway because the button must be pressed for several seconds before the engine shuts down.
- Quentin Tarantino named the film one of the ten best of its decade, and Christopher Nolan praised its use of suspense as an influence on his own film Dunkirk.
- The film was inspired by the real 2001 CSX 8888 incident, in which a runaway train ultimately traveled 66 miles through northwest Ohio.
- After filming, Canadian Pacific repainted the borrowed locomotives back to their normal colors, but the fictional railroad's black and yellow warning stripes were left on the plows of most of them and remained visible afterward.
