Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four.
Ebert's review is quoted as saying that in terms of sheer craftsmanship it is a superb film; a participant agrees, calling it craftsmanship as art.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Will jumping back onto the train; helicopter attempt to stop the train; Ned arriving in his red truck at the end

In the discussion (17)

Approx. transcript time · 00:34:45Read transcript

Dewey losing the train is a first pick: he cannot catch it, falls, and is the kind of idiot a real person would be rather than a movie idiot.
Tony Scott gives fringe characters room, as with the surveillance guys in Enemy of the State, who almost steal that movie.
The train nearly hitting the horses is unreal; the audience knows the children are safe but the horse might not be, and the shot from inside the horse trailer amazes.
Made around 1990 the horse would have gone down; you do not kill a dog unless you are John Wick.
Planting a car in front of the train goes badly and it derails and explodes, the first sign it could take out a town.
Galvin's plan is never explained: the film cross-cuts between his boardroom and Rosario Dawson's people, and the audience watches the plan take shape without being told.
Information flows well: viewers see the broadcasts and everyone involved, while the men on the train keep being caught unaware.
Will falling while trying to couple the cars feels real with no CGI, making a participant nervous for Chris Pine; the foot injury looks like it hurts.
Denzel's line that Will is "different" when asked if he is okay is singled out as brutal.
The train heading into the big curve beside storage tanks is joked about as the worst city planning; a defense is promised for Picking Nits.
The curve sequence works because of the cross-cutting to everyone watching on TV: the engineers, Rosario Dawson's team, Denzel's daughters at Hooters, Pine's wife and son, and the bars, which makes it emotional.
Tilting trains are believable because nobody knows enough about trains, unlike buses taking a ramp at 55.
Will jumping out and back onto the train is chosen as the most rewatchable scene; it leads to Denzel standing on top of the train with his arms up.
Fast and Furious has desensitized viewers to jumping between moving vehicles; Dewey's run shows how hard it really is.
Runaway Train with Eric Roberts and Voight influenced Tony Scott; it is a cynical convict movie where the train is not a character, but Denzel atop the train echoes Voight's ending.
The helicopter attempt to stop the train with a man hanging out is picked; one shot holds two trains, three choppers and a fleet of emergency vehicles.
Favorite shot is the grain explosion while Pine works on the coupling, with the helicopter flying parallel through the cornstorm, likened to Days of Heaven and Apocalypse Now; the most rewatchable scene is Ned arriving at the end in his red truck and getting Chris Pine to the front. — Quentin Tarantino

Bald know-it-all Denzel; Ethan Suplee and T.J. Miller as the screwups; railroad executives on the golf course; the wage-and-retirement conflict; authentic dialogue between the leads; nuanced family characterizations; Denzel's one rule; the mission-control structure; Tony Scott's mastery

In the discussion (14)

Approx. transcript time · 00:46:35Read transcript

Bald Denzel as a slightly condescending know-it-all works because only Denzel can pull it off.
Dewey and T.J. Miller's character are great as the screwups; Miller is unrecognizable without his long hair and mustache.
The evil executives seen briefly on a golf course are a highlight.
The labor politics have aged best: the company wants to retire expensive veterans and replace them with cheaply paid rookies, which hits harder now; a Saturday Night Live trailer parody mocked the expected old-versus-young cliche.
The reveal that Frank has already been pushed out is handled without a corny countdown scene, letting the wage dynamic emerge mid-movie.
Character-bonding scenes usually fail in action movies, but every line between the leads feels authentic, including "Ask your wife what she thinks".
Compared with the dialogue-driven Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, none of whose versions has a working ending, the dialogue here is functional and good, and the train jargon sells it.
Characterizations are nuanced: Denzel's daughters just work at Hooters through college rather than resenting him, and Pine's marriage is complicated.
Denzel's one rule speech to his conductor is cited as not the worst rule in the world.
It is a mission-control movie in the vein of Apollo 13, Armageddon, The Hunt for Red October and War Games, with Rosario Dawson's scenes a favorite; the Tony Scott version is looser, letting Kevin Corrigan's outsider interject.
Tony Scott's mastery, an answer the speaker also gave for Dunkirk, gets better on every viewing; it being his last movie adds weight.
Great last movies are rare; examples include Phil Carlson's Framed with Joe Don Baker and a director's final Japanese-set film that he narrates himself.
Christopher Nolan reportedly screened Unstoppable while planning Dunkirk, and Tony Scott appears to have drawn on Apocalypse Now's rule that helicopters must fly through every shot to keep the energy alive.
The same idea was applied to the ranch scenes in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, keeping dogs crossing in the background of every shot; the scene was not the hardest to shoot.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Railway safety field trips; Darcy's storyline; flip phones

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 00:58:33Read transcript

Railway safety field trips beside passing chemical trains have aged worst; others agree.
Will's restraining-order backstory is defended as a realistic incident, but Darcy inexplicably showing up at the end is a problem.
Darcy's motivation is unclear; a joke says having a wife pull a gun on a cop would be flattering.
Flip phones have aged; T9 texting would have made Darcy's texting obvious, and one participant says he still owns only a flip phone.
Denzel's daughters working at Hooters is proposed, but countered as something that aged best; Hooters is on the way out though still around, and the outfits are the point.
Made today, everyone would stream and tweet the runaway train with rumors.

Casting What-Ifs

Denzel Washington briefly dropping out; Martin Campbell almost directing

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 01:02:50Read transcript

There was little casting information: Denzel dropped out for a few minutes and came back, and Martin Campbell almost directed it.
Tony Scott used real newscasters as much as possible for authenticity.
The huge cast has no weak note, even Darcy and the helicopter newscaster; each is a vibrant tile in the mosaic.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Lew Temple as Ned

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:04:55Read transcript

The Dion Waiters Award is a category of one this time and could be renamed the Ned Award; T.J. Miller is raised but passed over.
Ned gets three scenes, including the most important moment and a funny diner moment; Lew Temple crushes the role.
It is a Tony Scott motif: a minor character grows and saves the day, as Vossler fixing the radio does in Crimson Tide.
Ned's mission is kept hidden; viewers see only cutaways of him driving until they realize he is racing to outrun the train.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Lew Temple as Ned; Kevin Corrigan

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:08:01Read transcript

Kevin Dunn as Galvin is shouted out for a sneaky great IMDb page (Dave, Warrior, Draft Day, Little Big League) but deemed ineligible.
Ned is named the winner.
Kevin Corrigan is the alternative pick: a 1990s independent-film staple who gets weird as the safety inspector.
The 9-1-1 actress leading the school field trip and Kevin Chapman, the Boston guy with Rosario Dawson, are also noted.

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

Skipped: no notable overacting

In the discussion (1)

Approx. transcript time · 01:10:21Read transcript

Nobody really overacts, so the award is left vacant.

Apex Mountain

Hooters; Chris Pine

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 01:10:21Read transcript

Hooters is at its apex: the film comes at the height of Hooters openings and redeems it after Big Daddy's jokes with a heartwarming scene.
Chris Pine is proposed; Star Trek launched him, but this is his first chance to lead a big movie with a big director and star.
Pairing a newly established actor with an older star is a classic Hollywood move, and Pine has arguably not taken the next leap since; a participant would write him a great part given the chance.

Half-Assed Internet Research

2001 Ohio runaway-train inspiration; molten phenol cargo; Chris Pine's own stunts; Denzel's fear of heights

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 01:12:04Read transcript

The film was inspired by a 2001 incident in which a runaway train traveled 66 miles through northwest Ohio; the real worker was never named and was less goofy than Dewey.
Two of the real cars held thousands of gallons of molten phenol; the train reached 51 miles an hour before stopping.
Chris Pine performed all of his own stunts; Denzel dislikes heights but went on top of the train on wires, and the empty train rocked more than usual.

Recasting Couch

No affirmative selection

In the discussion (1)

Approx. transcript time · 01:13:46Read transcript

Darcy might have been recast with Amy Smart or Michelle Moynihan, offered tentatively.

Picking Nits

Delayed car-jump attempt; spectators at ground zero; the plan to shoot the fuel tank; news helicopter footage before the story broke

In the discussion (10)

Approx. transcript time · 01:14:01Read transcript

Why not try having a car pace the train for a jump before hanging a man from a helicopter; deemed a decent nitpick, though there may have been no road access.
Pittsburgh local news has impossibly expert runaway-train coverage and graphics; others counter that it is local news on the biggest story ever there.
Would Hooters really switch from sports to the train; the counter is that the daughters get the manager to put it on.
An internet theory says another locomotive could have coupled in front and passed a driver across, ending the movie; it is rejected as no fun and hard because they never connect.
Everyone is supposedly evacuating a traveling Chernobyl, yet the town gathers at ground zero and Darcy brings her son.
Molten phenol riding with grain is questioned, and countered that railroads just move freight.
The throttle slipping out on its own is a bold-faced cheat like Final Destination; others read it as human error, and a scene seems to set up an explanation that never comes.
The storage tanks at the curve are ridiculous but accepted because they are fun, as Jaws is more fun with a full beach.
Shooting at the train's fuel tank seemed a bad plan with a one-in-100 chance of working.
The news helicopter follows Denzel and Pine before anyone knows what they are doing, reusing footage meant for elsewhere without pulling it off.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

In the discussion (1)

Approx. transcript time · 01:22:27Read transcript

Asked whether it could be a 10-episode Netflix show, the answers are no, joked as the train still running in episode 5.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

What happens with Denzel's daughters; best Pennsylvania action movie; whether Rosario Dawson has had her apex role; what if the train restarted after the ending

In the discussion (7)

Approx. transcript time · 01:22:48Read transcript

What is going on with Denzel's daughters? They are working through college, delightfully happy and unexplored, worthy of a spin-off.
Best Pennsylvania action movie: this one over Striking Distance, a Bruce Willis Pittsburgh Coast Guard movie that might work better as a 10-episode Netflix show.
Asked whether anyone has fully unlocked Rosario Dawson, the answer is no: she has charm and audience connection but needs a movie built around her. — Quentin Tarantino
She is likened to NBA players who never found the right situation; she was great in Clerks II, and plays the Ed Harris Apollo 13 part here.
Death Proof is raised; she is one of the three heroes of its second half rather than the lead.
Ideas include a Kramer vs. Kramer or Silkwood-type role, versus a genre movie that makes her a movie star, such as a speculative book about a plot to poison Roosevelt that was given to her.
Late addition: what if the movie ended with the train starting again after the press conference?

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie

"It's a train, Dewey, not a chipmunk"; "Mr. Galvin, this is Will Colson, your conductor, letting you know we're going to run this bitch down"; "Was I worried? Nah, not really. It's all about precision"

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 01:28:10Read transcript

Rosario Dawson's lines "It got away from you" and "It's a train, Dewey, not a chipmunk" are shouted out.
Will Colson's "we're going to run this bitch down" call to Galvin is liked.
Ned is said to have the line of the movie (garbled in the transcript), and his whole hero-ceremony interview, ending "It's all about precision", is praised.

Who Won the Movie?

Tony Scott

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 01:29:05Read transcript

Tony Scott is the pick.
A case is made for the train, 777, while conceding it is probably Tony: it becomes a King Kong-like monster, keeps beating all comers, and has its own theme.
As the train keeps winning, the officials sound silly; Denzel respects it, and viewers come to want it stopped rather than derailed or destroyed.
Judd's derailed engine shows what happens if the train blows up.
The final answer is Tony Scott.

Podcast choices

Speaker not identified: Tony Scott

More from the conversation

Episode is introduced as part two of the Quentin Tarantino trilogy, followed by a trailer-audio cold open about an unmanned hazardous-chemicals train.

Approx. transcript time · 00:00:58Read transcript

The guest picked the film after six weeks rewatching the decade's movies for a top-ten list; it ranked tenth and, after this rewatch, should be higher, as one of the last great movies of a director at the height of his powers.

Approx. transcript time · 00:01:48Read transcript

The film is called lean, about 90 minutes that feel like 35, with movement in nearly every shot, and a great jargon movie like Dunkirk that turns viewers into train experts.

Approx. transcript time · 00:03:47Read transcript

It came a year after Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, also a Denzel train movie; the hosts say it made about $170 million with great reviews, and A.O. Scott put it in his top 10 with a capsule saying sometimes a runaway train movie is exactly what you want.

Approx. transcript time · 00:05:17Read transcript

Why the film is not discussed more: its premise is in the title like Snakes on a Plane, yet it is delivered in both the most fun and most sophisticated way.

Approx. transcript time · 00:06:09Read transcript

Shooting in real Rust Belt locations outside Pittsburgh rather than a tax-rebate state with CGI makes it feel real; Enemy of the State is a parallel.

Approx. transcript time · 00:07:41Read transcript

A Tony Scott hallmark is a calliope of character actors, such as Kevin Corrigan's expert and the two idiots played by Ethan Suplee and T.J. Miller, who intrude on and steer the story, as in Crimson Tide.

Approx. transcript time · 00:08:37Read transcript

The film feels like going downhill and never stops; Speed's bus takes about 45 minutes to start; a participant rewatched all of Tony's films after his death and found this one better each time.

Approx. transcript time · 00:09:54Read transcript

Tony Scott is called one of the great master action directors of the last 40 years whose style others copy; Michael Bay's style is Tony Scott's but more, and his later Domino and Man on Fire phase differs from the Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop II era.

Approx. transcript time · 00:12:05Read transcript

Man on Fire's look is Creasy's sensory interpretation of Mexico City; here everything is rust-colored, and the train is a King Kong or Godzilla-like monster with a scream.

Approx. transcript time · 00:13:50Read transcript

Tony Scott would be a desert-island director pick; Enemy of the State and Crimson Tide have been seen dozens of times.

Approx. transcript time · 00:14:45Read transcript

In the 1980s Tony Scott was dismissed as a commercial hack next to Ridley, likened to Douglas Sirk's later reappraisal; a hotel-lobby argument with Todd Phillips ended with taking Tony and Denzel over Ridley and Russell.

Approx. transcript time · 00:15:13Read transcript

Beverly Hills Cop II is rated better than the first, with an opening jewelry store robbery called the year's best action scene.

Approx. transcript time · 00:16:37Read transcript

The backlash is traced to Days of Thunder and resentment of the machine, then The Last Boy Scout, whose Joe Hallenbeck is called Shane Black's best character and a Bruce Willis favorite.

Approx. transcript time · 00:17:44Read transcript

How the guest met Tony Scott: through a mutual friend, a set visit on The Last Boy Scout and a birthday party; Tony read Reservoir Dogs and True Romance, and took True Romance because the writer would direct Reservoir Dogs himself.

Approx. transcript time · 00:19:10Read transcript

Denzel and Tony made five films together, compared to Don Siegel and Clint Eastwood; quoted Denzel remarks call Tony an actor's director who lets him work things out safely.

Approx. transcript time · 00:21:09Read transcript

Shooting styles contrasted: one participant composes every shot with a single camera, while Tony is a selector running six or more cameras, nicknamed nine-camera Tony by Denzel, mixing film stocks into a mosaic.

Approx. transcript time · 00:22:36Read transcript

A quoted Tony Scott remark says Denzel showed a different side in each of their five films; Denzel quotes describe Tony's work ethic.

Approx. transcript time · 00:26:33Read transcript

Asked about actors they clicked with, a participant names Samuel Jackson, Christoph Waltz, Kurt Russell and Tim Roth.

Approx. transcript time · 00:27:49Read transcript

Denzel is called this generation's Paul Newman for working across the whole range of directors.

Approx. transcript time · 00:29:05Read transcript

The hosts state a budget of 85 to 100 million dollars and a gross of 167 million.

Approx. transcript time · 00:30:26Read transcript

The Chris Pine role is likened to a 1998-2002 Matt Damon or 1990s Christian Slater part; Miles Teller is suggested as a current version.

Approx. transcript time · 00:31:00Read transcript

A big Chris Pine fan says the Tony Scott treatment made Pine a movie star alongside Denzel.

Approx. transcript time · 00:31:43Read transcript

Closing thanks; next is King of New York, with the guest back once more the following week.

Approx. transcript time · 01:32:35Read transcript