The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)


The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)


The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)


Director: Tony Scott


Cast: Denzel Washington as Walter Garber, John Travolta as Ryder, Luis Guzmán as Phil Ramos, Victor Gojcaj as Bashkim, John Turturro as Camonetti, Michael Rispoli as John Johnson, Ramon Rodriguez as Delgado, James Gandolfini as Mayor, John Benjamin Hickey as Deputy Mayor LaSalle, Alex Kaluzhsky as George, Gbenga Akinnagbe as Wallace, Katherine Sigismund as Mom, Jake Richard Siciliano as 8-Year-Old Boy (as Jake Siciliano), Jason Butler Harner as Mr. Thomas, Gary Basaraba as Jerry Pollard (Motorman)



"Taking of Pelham 123" was the movie that had it all. A great director
in Tony Scott, screenwriter in Brian Helgeland (Man on Fire, LA
Confidential), and leading men in Denzel Washington and John Travolta
each doing what they do best. To its credit, Washington and Travolta
keep it afloat. This is the kind of movie both can do in their sleep
and watching them go one on one with each other is the film's main
bright spot. Were also in for a pretty exciting ride as Tony Scott
swings his camera around New York city streets and underground subway
tunnels. Though this remake of the 1974 film starring Walter Mathau and
Robert Shaw proves to be a little less than the sum of its parts.

Washington plays Walter Garber, the chief detective for the MTA
currently involved in some controversy over a bribe he may or may not
have taken. While that's being worked out, he's been reassigned to desk
duty as dispatcher in the subway command center. Just today will be a
day unlike any other as armed men hijack a New York City subway 6 train
and hold all of its passengers hostage. The leader of the hi-jackers
wishes to be called Ryder (John Travolta), and tells Walter that he
wants 10 million dollars within an hour or he will start executing
hostages. The cops (led by John Turturro) are brought in but Walter
remains as the lead negotiator at Ryder's request.

Short on actual plot, I was expecting more of a character driven movie
and early on it appears to go in that direction. There is a great scene
where Ryder puts Walter on trial for the bribe and it leads you to
think that these two are going to butt heads in dialogue-driven scenes
all day long, exposing each other for who they really are. Just the
battle of wits ends there, which is unfortunate cause the movie really
crackles whenever they talk to each other. Travolta, sporting a
menacing goatee and tattoo, is at his over-the-top, f-bomb-dropping,
lunatic best and Washington is his level-headed, average-guy adversary.

The rest is all action. Car crashes and shoot-outs take place, the car
crashes coming within a sloppy scene where the police travel by
motorcade to deliver the money and the shoot-out starting from a rat
crawling up a guy's leg of all things. Both feature no important
characters and situations that are manipulated. The finale comes before
you know it, a chase through the streets of NY that's more exciting
because it makes more sense. And Tony Scott, despite using clichés like
counting down the clock and going into slow-motion, keeps the movie
gritty and fast-paced. As for the rest of the cast, James Gandolfini,
playing a New York Mayor, is good comic relief, getting jokes about
Giuliani, subways, and the Yankees but Turturro and Luis Guzman,
playing a disgruntled MTA employee working with Ryder, don't get much
to do.

"Pelham" works pretty well as a thriller because the Tony Scott-Denzel
Washington teaming (this is their fourth go-around) always seems to do
so and adding Travolta, always fun as a villain, is another nice touch.
Just it doesn't always leave you engaged in what's happening, whether
because the plot or the action lacks humanity. Still it's held together
by good acting and solid direction and for that alone it's worth a
ride.

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