Unstoppable

Snipes plays an ex spec ops officer trying to cope with the loss of one of his men (who happens to have been his best friend). They were captured and Snipes was forced to make the ultimate decision - either let his friend die by being burned alive, or give him the order to step off a stool and hang himself. Snipes was forced to give the order to step forward and has never forgiven himself since.

His love interest, his friend's sister, doesn't know the circumstances behind her brother's death, but insists that Snipes visit a focus group to try and deal with the loss. Snipes tries, but he ends up calling her and asking her to meet him at a diner so he can finally tell her what really happened to her brother.

Snipes shows up at the restaurant early and is mistaken for another man. CIA operatives shoot him up with an experimental hallucinogenic drug that kills the victim in 6 hours, but makes them highly succeptible to suggestion.

As it turns out the CIA made a big mistake and Snipes escapes from the facility. The rest is a cat/mouse chase and a race to find the antidote before it's too late.

By today's standards this is a tame movie, but if you're a fan of Wesley Snipes you'll enjoy this film. It's low budget, but it's a lot better than other offerings I've seen. It's popcorn entertainment, but don't expect any big fights or a lot of action---something they could've elaborated on a bit. The title "Unstoppable" doesn't really match the movie.

In spite of its derivativeness and lack of true cinematic flair, UNSTOPPABLE is enjoyable and has some good things to recommend it:

*Mark Sheppard and Kim Coates as an Abbott and Costello-style hit men duo, whose stone faced seriousness adds unintended camp;

*Jacqueline Obradors does well as a gritty cop who doesn't take guff from bad government agents;

*Wesley Snipes who will more than likely enter the aging action hero group of stars like Steven Seagal, Jean Claude van Damme and others, doesn't require much suspension of belief in his hallucinogenic stupor;

Stuart Wilson is fun in his "Let's try and act like Rip Torn" villain role.

It's all mindless froth but it kept me interested in spite of its flaws.

UNSTOPPABLE is a disappointing exercise of how trying to cover a routine story with a lot of camera and time-lapse gimmicks simply cannot save a poor script. Though represented as a low budget film, the special effects crew seems to have blown the budget on the usual incendiary, explosive, blowing-up-fuel-truck-on bridge, burning clothing gimmicks that are by now tired at best.

Wesley Snipes tries to save this tale of a war veteran at odds with his conscience over duties performed while on duty who accidentally becomes involved in a caper involving bad guys and injectable drugs so evil that they threaten to be give the owner of the drug complete control over everyone's mind. Mistaken identity, good guy with guilt becoming a transient bad guy under drug influence under chase by the drug lords, CIA, FBI, and police (who just happen to be on Snipes' side for reasons less dramatic) - all of these are thrown into the blender and out comes soup.

The supporting cast has some familiar faces - Jacquelyn Obradores (NYPD Blues), Vincent Riotta ('Under the Tuscan Sun', 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin'), Adewale Akinnuoye-Abaje (remember Adebisi in 'OZ'?) and given the pedestrian script, these and others give good performances. The problems (and there are many) include out-of-focus camera work to make us 'feel' the effect of the drug injected into Snipes' character and the imagined vs real footage that intermingles at a maddening rate to clutter the progress of the action.

A film for those who love Wesley Snipes and for those who can buy into yet another mindless action flick. Grady Harp