Unstoppable - Außer Kontrolle

Es ist prima, dass die realistische Geschichte und das realistische Verhalten der Figuren diesem Scott-Film keine logischen Fehler erlauben. Im Vergleich zu z. B. Speed ist Unstoppable - Außer Kontrolle mehr ein dramatischer Thriller als ein Actionfilm. Action hat hier nur Scotts traditionell effektvolle Form. Der Regisseur arbeitet auch brillant mit der Steigerung der Spannung, welche die Hauptdevise des Films ist. Aber ohne Terroristen, tickende Bomben oder wenigstens ein geistreicheres (explosiveres?) Finale, das mit der toxischen Zugladung spielen würde, ist der Film einfach nicht das Richtige. (31.03.2011)

Herrlich. Der 1. FC Metallschrott, der Albtraum eines jeden Eisenbahners, und der. testosterongesteuerte Milchmann Tony mit einer starken Besetzung im Rücken. Eine echte Fahrt wie in alten Zeiten, wohl ein Anachronismus, aber das wirft mich in der Zeit der CGI-Balletts nicht aus der Bahn... (30.03.2011)

Der Titel lügt nicht. Tony Scott hat einen kompromisslosen Actionfilm gedreht, der die Stimmung von Oldschool-Blockbustern von John Frankenheimer oder Don Siegel mit einer üppigen digitalen visuellen Seite kombiniert. Am Anfang kommt er in Gang… Und dann saust er, saust und saust. Ja, in Unstoppable - Außer Kontrolle gibt es nicht besonders viele unerwartete oder originelle Dinge. Es ist aber ein Film, der auf eine gewisse Art und Weiße unterhaltsam ist, was mich ziemlich überrascht hat. In der Hand halte ich die DVD-Hülle und frage mich, warum dieser Film nicht in den Kinos lief. (29.03.2011)

Especially in the last 30 minutes a solid adrenaline dose. It's been done before and in a better version (Končalovský's Runaway Train, for instance), but otherwise this action flick has one big trump card, and that is the unorthodox setting of railway transport. Scott ticks along with the action, thanks to which even the mandatory clichés surrounding the protagonist's family can be survived unscathed. (25.12.2010)

A train weighing a million tonnes, 800 metres long and packed with highly explosive material. And there is no one in control of it. Tony Scott goes big with Unstoppable. However, in a ranking of the most original action films, this wouldn’t place even in the top one hundred. The plot is blatantly p r e d i c t a b l e, which is somewhat justified only by the fact that it was inspired by actual events.  The lives of children, animals and heroic government employees are in danger. Unstoppable doesn’t differ from Scott’s previous train ride (The Taking of Pelham 123) in the nature of the main character (a sensible ordinary guy who becomes a hero), the relative lack of psychedelic visuals for a Scott film, the large amount of pathos or the forced emphasis on family values, but only in the absence of a villain. A simple failure of the human factor is what triggers the action. This time, the idiots aren’t cops (though there is a delightfully unnecessary airborne pirouette performed by a police car); the bad decision is made by a boss, whose bourgeois ass ultimately gets kicked to the curb by the working-class hero’s actions. Unstoppable really comes across as an ode to people who work with their hands and feet, but the constantly fast pace won’t give you time to think about that interpretation. The camera is constantly in motion, shots are very short even during the brief dialogue scenes, and we have to divide our attention between multiple events happening in parallel throughout the film. Scott took the main limitation of trains, i.e. the ability to go only forward and backward, and turned it into the main strength of the action scenes (the whole film is essentially one long action scene). The last-second miss was just as breathtaking as the last time in silent slapstick, of which it’s impossible not to recall at least The General. Whereas Keaton worked primarily with the breadth of a shot, Scott rather uses its depth, as if he’s heading toward using a stereoscopic format. That would have been a treat. Unfortunately, it will never happen. The unstoppable Tony Scott has reached his final station. 75% (17.11.2012)