Mar 29 Unstoppable Blu-ray Review
Unstoppable - HT Guys Review - Overall 4.4 Stars (out of 5)
Synopsis
It's a nail-biting race against time as an unmanned train carrying a load of lethal chemicals speeds out of control, and a conductor and engineer do everything in their power to keep it from derailing and killing tens of thousands of people. Denzel Washington leads the cast in Tony Scott's tough-minded action thriller, in which a terrible circumstance forces a couple of ordinary men to become extraordinary heroes. (Buy Now $22.49)
Starring:
Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson, Ethan Suplee, Kevin Dunn, Kevin Corrigan, Kevin Chapman, Lew Temple, T.J. Miller
Director:
Tony Scott
Blu-ray Release Date:
Feburary 15, 2011
Subtitles:
English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Cantonese, Mandarin (Traditional)
Rating
Overall rating weighted as follows:
Audio 40%, Video 40%, Special Features 20% Movie - its just our opinion so take it with a grain of salt
Audio 4.6 Stars (out of 5)
Dolby and DTS Demo Discs used as basis for comparison
- Subwoofer - 4.0 Stars
- Dialog - 5.0 Stars
- Surround Effects - 5.0 Stars
- Dynamic Range - 4.5 Stars
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
It’s easy to see why this movie was Oscar nominated for its sound editing. Surround sound is put to good use in the this Blu-ray. The squeals of the train breaks, heavy engines racing by, and sounds of metal crashing against metal fill the room, and help bring the action into the living room. Dialog is always heard clearly without clashing with any of the action. Surprisingly the subwoofer is not utilized as much as I would like, but this DTS-HD Master Audio track still sounds great.
Video 4.7 Stars (out of 5)
Spears & Munsil Benchmark Blu-ray Edition used as basis for comparison
- Color Accuracy - 4.5 Stars
- Shadow detail - 4.5 Stars
- Clarity - 5.0 Stars
- Skin tones - 4.5 Stars
- Compression - 5.0 Stars
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC, Video resolution: 1080p, Aspect ratio: 2.40:1, Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Unstoppable has stunning video quality. Even with the film grain the all the rocks and gravel next to the tracks are clearly visible. The colors are very vivid without being too warm. That big bright red train barreling down the tracks looks like a mean heap of menacing mechanical metal. This movie has plenty of fast movement in it, all of the trees, cars, and buildings passing by move fluidly without any signs of compression issues or signs of frame-rate problems.
Bonus Features 3.5 Stars (out of 5)
- Audio Commentary with Director Tony Scott
- The Fastest Track: Unleashing Unstoppable
- Derailed: Anatomy of a Scene
- Hanging Off the Train: Stunt Work
- On the Rails with the Director and Cast
- Tracking the Story: Unstoppable Script Development
- Digital Copy
Movie - 3.0 Stars (out of 5)
Review
This film has everything going for it. It was based on true events, has a great cast, and a hotshot director, even though it is entertaining it’s a forgettable experience. Unstoppable is a well paced movie, once you’re comfortable with the characters, it takes off and re-enacts some of the events of the CSX 8888 train incident it was based on. Even though you have an idea of what will happen, Tony Scott does a good job of keeping enough tension in the film to keep you interested.
Denzel Washington and Chris Pine do serviceable jobs in this movie. However, there is no camaraderie between any of the characters what so ever. It almost makes you dislike them. You learn enough to understand their motives, but not enough to care about them. Unfortunately, this makes all the characters seem shallow and two dimensional. It’s because of the great video and awesome sound editing, I’d recommend this movie as a rental.
Reader Comments (1)
Thanks for posting this review! Somehow this movie escaped my attention. I am really looking forward to some great high-def surround sound!