The Taking of Pelham 123

Written by: Brian Helgeland (book by: John Godey)
Directed by: Tony Scott
Rated R for violence and pervasive language

Starring: Denzel Washington, John Travolta, John Tuturro, James Gandolfini, Luis Guzman

Walter Garber (Washington) is working as a dispatcher for the New York city Metro Transit Authority. Not the greatest job, but that’s what happens when you’re the assistant director who gets accused of taking a bribe. Taking everything in stride, he does the job assigned to him and all is well until the dispatchers notice a blip on the system with train # Pelham 1-2-3 (they constantly say one-two-three, not one twenty three, which I thought was odd, but at least they explain it). The train seems to have stopped and then all but one car is disconnected and sent the opposite way. Garber soon learns that the train has been hijacked and the single car left behind is held hostage (its easier to scare a single car full of folks instead of a train full).

Garber gets through to Ryder (Travolta), the hijacker, and learned that his demands are simply $10 million from the Mayor (Gandolfini) in 60 minutes. The feds send in a negotiator (Tuturo) and everyone tries to get the hostages out of the train safely. Isn’t that the way of all hostage movies?

Of course Denzel gives a good performance of a regular guy who gets pulled into a bad situation and tries to do the right thing without thinking of himself first. Travolta’s character is a little more complex and I wish they would have done more about explaining his past and motives for the hijacking but maybe it was explained more in the book, or the original version of the movie. So I don’t really know if it’s just updated or a total remake, but I’m sure the 1974 version didn’t have video of the hostages streaming live on the web. It’s pretty good to see Travolta as kind of a bad ass. He’s not the most vicious bad guy you’ve ever seen in a movie, but it’s different for Travolta.

Tony Scott definitely puts his mark on the movie. Full of the Scott brand of quick cuts and random text on the screen (in a non-distracting manner). Somehow he manages a car chase and some intense wreckage even though it’s a movie about an underground train. And there are a few humorous spots. Not roll on the floor funny, and it doesn’t interrupt the intensity of the movie, but it does add in some reality to it.

The only other problem I had with the movie was the ending. It wasn’t open ended, but it was a little too easy. And the intensity somehow tapers off once the hour deadline passes. Travolta and Washington don’t spend that much time on screen together, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. And you fans of The Wire might be pleased to see a certain nappy-headed, staple gun wielding, right-hand man on the train and the boyfriend of the shotgun toting, scarface’d, neighborhood whistling thug.

I give the movie a B-. It’s a good throw-back action movie (as in not lots of CGI) and the actors give good performances. Better to see it in the theater instead of waiting for Netflix/Red Box, but it’s nowhere near super summer blockbuster intensity/action.