Unstoppable is without doubt a blotch in Snipe's career. Here is a problem at the moment for Snipes. He has firmly established himself as an action star. Action films were dying a death throughout the mid-90's to the turn of the millennium but there has been a comeback with some good action films. There has not been a comeback for the action star though. We have the likes of Matt Damon, his less talented buddy Ben, Will Smith and young pretty boys like Paul Walker in trashy teen action films where the soundtrack and vehicles are the main draw. All the quote 'Action Men' are not pulling in the punters like they used to, they need a hook. Arnold needed to don his best leathers and cyborg strut to make money and Wesley has only smelt box office sweetness in his action man status with the Blade series. Snipes was at one point the black mans action hero, a seminal cult symbol amongst black cinema goers and good too. Hollywood although as multicultural as ever still would seem to orientate towards white audiences and also of course towards men, hence there are few interesting roles written for men of non-Caucasian heritage and also women, but importantly the figures are better. Still, however the films of Spike Lee and co although important are still essentially cult movies. But what I believe is that Snipe's draw as an action hero will subside even more now that big Willy grabs his pistol fairly regularly and now of course the Rock is laying the Smackdown on cinema goers. The Blade series has done good business but it's because it is blockbuster, comic book stuff. The audience figures come more from the marketing than who is in it. This is proved really by the fact that outside of the Blade series Wesley has not had exceptional box office receipts in his action vehicles, a mixture of mainly an African-American audience and the fact that the films were inferior to the ones Sly and Arnold were doing.<br /><br />I'm a fan of Snipes, he's a great actor given the right roles and I truly believe he cursed his career all those years ago by saying yes to doing Passenger 57. Action films tend to waste him and since then the good roles have somewhat dried up compared to his golden period in his Spike Lee collaborations, in White Men Can't Jump, New Jack City and King Of New York. Initially he balanced his action movies by doing independent and TV movies as well, to have more challenging roles but looking at his next lot of movies, all action based, it seems he may have made his bed for good and is now content to lye in it. Not only is Unstoppable a bad action movie but it represents a real decline in financial backing and faith in Snipes ability to pull in an audience on his own. At a meagre $15million budget this is cheaper than the latest Van Damme and Seagal efforts and the film, although getting a limited release on Oct 30th, is basically straight to video and in quality it's not even one of the better. I have seen more enjoyable efforts this year form Seagal, Van Damme and Lundgren all who lack the undisputed talent that Snipes has. Directed by Television maestro David Carson whose only previous big screen gig was directing the fairly enjoyable Star Trek: Generations, although that was only enjoyable for seeing Picard and Kirk team up and for laughing every time Shatner opened his mouth to say a line. The film looks cheap, sounds cheap and suffers from the restraints heaped upon those DTV action gods. You sit and watch and feel this shouldn't happen to Snipes, who is going through the motions.<br /><br />The plot has more holes than the holiest Swiss-cheese on earth and involves government conspiracies and comes across in some respects as a low grade Bourne movie (Snipes plays a guy hunted down by spooks while his mind is fried to s**t) it even has a supporting role in it for Adewale Agbaje who was in Bourne Identity. Also co-starring is Kim Coates. I won't go into the in's and out's of the plot because my head would start to hurt, but it involves a drug that cause the recipient to have strange visions that seem real and which allow for someone to control their mind by manipulating them in their visions, they will also die after a certain period of time. Snipes is mistaken for someone else and injected with this stuff in order for Coates and his fellow disbanded CIA men to retrieve important information about a deal for a whole big batch of the stuff. They don't realize they have the wrong man and it is left to Snipes girlfriend (Jacqueline Obradors) to work out what is going on and help her bloke.<br /><br />So the plot is all over the place but this is an action movie, does it have enough well choreographed carnage to save it? Not really. The film in truth is boring. The action is flat and the direction, merely serviceable. There's some martial arts stuff but is all to brief. Those expecting Bladesque batterings of the baddies can think again. All in all this is a film that is a let down on so many levels. The main thing is that Snipes should have said no when someone put the script on his lap, I imagine it had grubby fingerprints and jam stains on it or something, or came in an X-files folder with scribblings all over the front. <br /><br />I expect we have all heard the rumours that Snipes is a pain to work with, often turning up late, going missing and treating co-stars disrespectfully and how much of these rumours are true, we won't know for sure. You have to wonder though just whether his recent career track record shows that big name directors no longer want to work with him. He has worked with greats over the years who seem to have forgotten about him over the years and few directors work with him more than once anymore. David Goyer did, Blade 3 being his second time directing Snipes and he himself admits difficulties but the talent of Snipes won him over. I'm sure the likes of Scorsese and Spike Lee, who do films that would suit Snipes down to a tee, would hire him on the spot if it were merely a question of talent. For many years he hasn't has a significant role in a big production outside the action genre. His better roles are in smaller independent movies and TV movies suggesting that the big studios don't want to risk it with him. Truly this is a shame, I'm sure I'm not the only person who thinks Snipes has failed in his potential to be an Oscar winning actor.<br /><br />Overall a disappointingly routine thriller that has a B-movie whiff surrounding it that Snipes should not have his name associated with. Tis' his own doing methinks! **