“Unstoppable,” the latest collaboration between director Tony Scott and actor Denzel Washington, invites scrutiny with its title. We know it’s about an out-of-control train filled with explosives that will destroy a city if it crashes. But “unstoppable”? Is anything truly unstoppable? We beg to differ!
Things That Could Theoretically Stop the Train from ‘Unstoppable’
– Superman. Obviously.
– Running out of gas, or coal, or electricity, or whatever it is trains use for fuel.
– Crashing into an immovable object. Granted, this would cause the train to explode. But it would, technically, be stopped.
– A court order. You’d be surprised how many people and machines will respond promptly to an injunction by a local magistrate.
– Waiting until the Earth rotates on its axis enough that the train is now heading “up.” Then the train will roll backwards down the tracks. Unless I fundamentally misunderstand how gravity works.
– If all the people on the train cram into the caboose, thus weighing it down and producing an anchor effect.
– An anchor. The train probably doesn’t have an anchor already, but a helicopter could drop one off.
– Cranking the locomotive’s steering wheel really hard to the right or left so the train veers off the tracks. (May not be feasible if trains do not actually have steering wheels. Check on this.)
– Manipulating local weather so that temperature surrounding train drops to absolute zero, the point at which all motion stops.
– Applying the brakes. I assume somebody already tried this, but boy, will we ever feel dumb if it turns out no one did!
— Film.com
