The Taking of Pelham 123

Disclaimer: The following review is coming from someone who has not seen the original version of the movie or read the book. Therefore, I have nothing to compare it to. Had I seen/read it my review would most likely be altered.





Tony Scott's "The Taking of Pelham 123" is a remake of a 1974 movie of the same name. The roles played in the original by Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw are now played by Denzel Washington and John Travolta. Joining Washington and Travolta in this version are James Gandolfini and John Turturro. The movie is well cast and has great acting. The pacing is appropriate and the script works relatively well. The end result is actually pretty good, especially for summer, where 90% of the movies are so awful they're not worth the time it takes to watch the trailer on Youtube.


"The Taking of Pelham 123" is set in New York City, where Ryder (John Travolta) and a couple accomplices gain control of a subway train. Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) is the subway dispatcher who first talks to Ryder. Ryder has the people on the train hostage and now Garber has the responsiblity of getting Ryder $10 million dollars ransom money. If Ryder does not have the money within the hour, then one person dies for each minute past the deadline. The mayor of New York (Gandolfini) and NYPD Emergency Service Unit Lt. Camonetti (Turturro) are among those aiding in the aquiring of the money. As much as I would like to I won't ruin the entire movie for people, even though I would not mind doing that. Apparently people don't really appreciate that.


One of the key reasons for this movie being worth the time at the theater is the two leads. Denzel Washington is perfect in his role and he seems believable. He is a great counterpart to Travolta's Ryder. John Travolta has made some questionable choices in his career (Did we really need a "Look Who's Talking" trilogy or "Battlefield Earth"?) However, this is not one of them. He is actually pretty believable as a man holding up a subway and is the polar opposite of Garber which works out well in the movie. Strangely enough Travolta also provides some comic relief in "The Taking of Pelham 123" which works surprisingly well given the type of movie that it is. They have a decent script, although not original, is executed well by the cast. Gandolfini and Turturro also give great performances in their supporting roles.


However, the movie is definitely cheesy in spots and at times pretty predictable. The frequent freeze frames and countdown until the hour is up does not help the movie. Also, many of the action sequences do not feel natural. There is a lot of quick and freqent cuts and several scenes feel extremely computerized. It looks like Tony Scott wants to make sure people's ADD doesn't kick in during the movie.



The quick edits, freeze frames, and computer generated effects can be distracting, but luckily

did not take away from the movie as a whole. The cast, most notably Washington and Travolta gave great performances. And quite honestly its worth seeing the movie just to see Denzel Washington and John Travolta working together. 3 stars...so much better than most of the movies that make more money than this one...and I have seen a lot this summer...

-Joseph Sbrilli