Sleep, Little Baby

If there's only one thing you can say about Danny Boyle, it's that he refuses to be easily defined. The visually-distinctive director has been making films for almost thirty years, and unlike many artists who have been working for that long or longer (*cough* Spielberg *cough*), his work has never felt like a copy of his previous efforts or constricted by a lack of risk-taking. He's happy working in any genre, whether it be drama (Trainspotting), adventure (The Beach), horror (28 Days Later) or science fiction (Sunshine), never spiting a story because of where or how it takes place. And of course he has now broken through to mainstream audiences with his heavily lauded (and fairly lucrative) Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours. Those movies engaged audiences, drove them to the theaters, and had them conversing with one another for weeks after they had finished watching.

Trance is not like either of those films. Instead, it's more of a throwback to Boyle's early methods of storytelling, and in more ways than one: it was actually an idea brought to him way back in 1994, after he had finished filming thriller Shallow Grave, by screenwriter Joe Ahearne. While he didn't take it on at the time, Ahearne did eventually turned the screenplay into a television movie in 2001. But Boyle never forgot the tale, and recently he finally pushed to get it made. And while it's certainly flown under the radar here in 2013, Boyle makes enough of an effort to ensure you should check it out in its inevitable DVD release.

In modern-day London, Simon (James McAvoy) has assisted a robbery crew in their theft of a priceless painting. But when the gang's leader Franck (Vincent Cassel) inspects their haul, he discovers that he only possesses an empty frame, the art itself having gone missing. Suspecting treachery on Simon's part, he attempts to torture the location of his prize out of the mild-mannered man, only to learn that Simon has no memory of hiding the painting due to a head wound he suffered in the heist. Desperate and angry, Franck hires the services of hypnotist Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson) in an effort to get Simon to remember. But when retrieving that memory becomes more difficult than intended, it will take all of Elizabeth's effort and all of Franck's patience to see this painting doesn't disappear forever.

As would any movie having to do with the human memory, Trance is definitely very complex. Much like Christopher Nolan's Inception, there are multiple layers of reality happening all at once, with nothing counted on to be as it seemingly appears. There are vast departures from that 2010 blockbuster however, not the least of which is that while Inception found itself quite bloated and unbelievable by the end, Trance's goals and machinations are far more simple. Character motivations are relatively simple, making them more easily sympathetic and understandable. What remains a nuisance, however, is the storytelling itself, with Boyle waving the camera around and moving between past, present, dream and reality with a madman's ambition. Sometimes it does work, but at others it's a bit too trippy to really be taken all that seriously.

At least the characters are interesting enough to keep us enthralled, even when the story gets a bit away from us. James McAvoy is an excellent, genre-defying actor who absolutely had to be top-notch for this movie to be good, and he passes that test with ease. As a performer, he has to do the most transforming, as the character we see at the end of Trance is a far cry from the one we are introduced to in the beginning. Rosario Dawson's Elizabeth is also intriguing, though marred by bland personality through most of the film. From moment one we're aware that something about her is off, but a good performance and excellent writing make sure we're never truly sure until Boyle is ready to let us in on the secret. Vincent Cassell is by far the weakest of the cast, his thick French accent unable to convey most proper emotions in English. However, as a standard thug/bad guy he remains effective, a violent foil to McAvoy's more timid protagonist.

But despite some clever trickery and some really good acting, there just isn't enough here to recommend Trance to the average movie-going public. Boyle has made some real head-turners in the past, and he certainly has enough twists here to keep the story from becoming stale and unwatchable. However, there's not enough intrigue to make it worth the ticket price, especially when the ending will leave you scratching your head in confusion and frustration. This is certainly an okay movie, just not one I would recommend going to the theater to see. Instead, check it out on DVD, where the minuscule budget, bare bones story, and derivative elements will play much better on a smaller screen. It's not bad, just not up to Danny Boyle's usual level of excellence.

It Can't Be Stopped!

What do you get when you cross one of America's greatest actors, one of it's up-and-coming stars, and a runaway train? If you're director Tony Scott, the answer is Unstoppable, the "based on a true story" tale of two train engineers who take it upon themselves to try and stop an unmanned train that presents a danger to the people along whose rail it runs. The film was inspired by the real-life CSX 8888 incident in which a runaway train carrying hazardous chemicals went rampant through the state of Ohio before finally being brought under control by CSX employees and local authorities. I won't lie, I wasn't entirely behind seeing this film. Besides the fact that the trailer made the film seem so over-the-top dramatic to the point of almost unwatchable, there had been other options out there that seemed far more palatable to my tastes than this. Finding myself out of those options for the first time in a while (and of course needing all the material I can get for three reviews a week) I decided that I liked Denzel Washington and Chris Pine enough (not to mention the foxy Rosario Dawson... Rawr) to slip into theaters unseen and catch this while it was available.

Wait... This isn't the set of Star Trek 2...

There's very little in the way of deep story here. Thanks to the ineptitude of train yard employees, a train trailed by rail cars measuring a half mile long gets loose and under power, entering the main line unmanned and becoming a danger to every community along the rail. Meanwhile, Will Colson (Chris Pine), a young train conductor, arrives at work and learns he's paired with veteran engineer Frank Barnes (Denzel Washington), with whom he's never worked before. After the beginnings of a rocky partnership, plus almost being crashed into by the runaway locomotive, the two team up on the crazy idea of running down and stopping this engine of death. Real deep, riveting stuff.

Washington gets paid big bucks to make you see films like this

Fortunately, the film is a lot more watchable than you might initially think. Yes, it does feature a train full of kids in danger, but those same kids - who the trailer would have you think are a major focal point of the film - are out of danger a mere quarter of the way through the film. So that's one major criticism avoided, as that aspect of the trailer was probably the most over-the-top storyline bit they could have introduced. The film is also compellingly watchable, and if that doesn't seem like the best of compliments, remember that it could have been MUCH worse. The sad truth is that Tony Scott manages to make two men chasing a runaway train in a single locomotive extremely entertaining, and even if it's not a perfect film it can easily be enjoyed by someone looking to just unwind and not think too much. Another good point is it's intelligence with train operation. The film often fills in what might be critics' complaints about the plot by explaining why a train's "dead man" switch doesn't trip or how a device called a "derailer" could fail to derail a sufficiently-laden train. While I should probably feel insulted that the film so openly explains tiny details as if I don't know how a train operates, the truth is that I - as well as most film-goers seeing this title - DON'T know how trains operate, and actually benefit from these open, simple explanations.

No trains were harmed in the making of this film

That said, the film does get a little out-of-hand starting at the mid-point of the tale, as the attempts by the railroad company to stop its runaway get more and more ridiculous. When it's finally Will and Frank's chance to do their part, it's almost a relief because it puts an end to the silliness that had come before. Characters are also pretty slim pickings, as they seem to be pulled from the cliche heap. Will is a husband and father who has found his way into the dog house and starts the film sleeping on his brother's couch. Frank is a father with a dead wife and two daughters, one of whom's birthday happens to be that very day and OF COURSE Frank forgot. It's stuff like this that reminds you that this is Tony Scott, the action-oriented younger brother of the more talented and varied filmmaker Ridley Scott. Tony doesn't DO high class drama, he's an all-American action boy. And he knows how to blow stuff up almost as well as Michael Bay.

The same can not be said, however, for train EMPLOYEES

The film's acting is fine, if not given much material to work with. Washington is getting a paycheck as Frank, whose idea it is to try and capture the train in the first place. This is a typical B-level Washington film, one of the dozens he has sprinkled throughout his career in between solitary drops of actual top-shelf quality film. One might say that he's limiting himself by appearing in so many low-brow releases that he might not be as well remembered after his career as some of his contemporaries, such as Tom Hanks. I however give him credit for doing his career his way and he'll be remembered as one of the most talented actors in Hollywood once his time in the spotlight comes to an end. Pine is obviously an up-and-comer whose big break-out, Star Trek, made him a world-wide phenomena. While not allowed to churn out his Jim  Kirk charm, Pine does a fine job as the young conductor simply trying to get by. Rosario Dawson is good as a train yardmaster who keeps tabs on the duo and helps them figure out what to do in order to stop the train. Once again, there's not a lot for her to do besides support the film's heroes while being angry at her higher-ups who consistently gunk up the works. Kevin Dunn plays the film's main human antagonist (because Scott believes that every film needs at least ONE), a corporate executive for the rail company that looks out more for the interests of the company than the people this train might harm. Ethan Suplee plays a train yard worker who instigates the whole mess. Suplee plays it like a semi-retarded manatee, which is pretty much his range. And Lew Temple plays his train welder as an unlikely secondary hero and is also a hick with a capital H.

Rawr

Though the film does exaggerate the events that actually occurred during the real event, there is nothing so out there as to be completely unbelievable, and Scott does a good job at making sure that your eyes watch the screen at all times. It was poorly advertised and looked much worse in the trailers than it did while sitting in on an actual screening, lending credence to the idea that seeing is believing. Unstoppable is a film that is much better than it deserves to be, but like brother Ridley's 2010 effort Robin Hood, is far from reaching the true potential set by its respective genre. The result is a film that, while overly-relying on fictional danger and poor character designs, manages to entertain through sheer simplicity. And who doesn't want to keep it simple once in a while?

"Warp factor 1, Sulu. Engage."