 | |
List Price: $28.96 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 485
Released: November 3, 2009 |
| Our Price: $9.44 |
| Used Price: $5.05 |
|
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) is a New York City subway dispatcher whose ordinary day is thrown into chaos by an audacious crime: the hijacking of a subway train. Ryder (John Travolta), the criminal mastermind behind the hijacking and leader of a highly-armed gang of four, threatens to execute the train's passengers unless a large ransom is paid within one hour. As the tension mounts beneath his feet, Garber employs his vast knowledge of the subway system in a battle to outwit Ryder and save the hostages. But there's one riddle Garber can't solve: even if the thieves get the money, how can they possibly escape?
Description of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3:
John Godey's 1973 novel The Taking of Pelham One Two Three boasts a suspense situation so surefire that even the directorial bad habits of Tony Scott can't ruin this latest movie version. Four armed men seize a New York City subway train, isolate one car, and threaten to start killing passengers if a ransom isn't paid within the hour. The ransom was a million dollars in the book and also in Joseph Sargent's solid 1974 movie, in which Robert Shaw played the mercenary leading the hostage takers and Walter Matthau was the growling transit cop trying to outsmart him. In 2009, the title has gone digital--The Taking of Pelham 123--and inflation has jumped the asking price to $10 million. Where Shaw's menace was steely, John Travolta opts for manic, and shamelessly has a blast in the master villain role. His adversary, cagily underplayed by Denzel Washington, has been upgraded in civil-service rank but also demoted on suspicion of taking a bribe. This colors the dynamics of the dialogue between Washington at his control-center console and Travolta on the motorman's microphone aboard the stalled train.
So far, so reasonably good. But the director's trademark tactics keep getting between, well, everything. From the get-go, the visuals are subjected to pointless and irritating stutter effects, speeding-up/slowing-down, gratuitous camera movement, and the interposition of dirt- or light-smeared panes of glass between the camera and people we'd appreciate a clear look at. The 1974 movie settled for one police car being wrecked as the ransom is rushed uptown; Scott requires multiple collisions, each the occasion for police cruisers taking Lethal Weapon-style flight. The hostages in the earlier film were wittily individuated, a multicultural group portrait of the city at that mid-'70s moment; the ones on Scott's train--and also Travolta's fellow perpetrators, including that wonderful character actor Luis Guzmán--barely register. On the upside, John Turturro and James Gandolfini shine as two guys who (like the actors themselves) are very good at their jobs—respectively playing a hostage negotiator and His Honor, the mayor. The screenplay by Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Mystic River) strives intelligently, if formulaically, to add new dimensions to the main characters and to offer its own gloss on the current economic meltdown. --Richard T. Jameson
Stills from The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (Click for larger image)
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 Reviews:
pelham 123 horrible 
2009-12-18 - Every Denzel movie is good...except this one. This movie had no hook...basically Travolta yelled and cursed and gets shot in the end. I would expect a bad movie in 1975 but 2009? We have perfected screenplays and special effects and exactly what people like in a movie. This movie was a bore fest from start to finish. I am glad I only payed 1.00 to rent this from REDBOX because anthing more than 1.00 is robbery for this yawner.
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 Movie Review 
2009-12-15 - Really good movie, very suspenseful, great ending, kept me on the edge of my seat. Never a time where I felt bored while I was watching this. Also a great price too!
Was Worth It To See Travolta 
2009-12-13 - I thought it was decent, but it wasn't the earth-shattering, gut-wretching kinda plotline which makes you think and wonder about days later. My biggest worry was that there would be no hostages as advertised. In the end, Travolta only hung on to a few scrawny ones in a subway car, and the rest he sorta let go. Weak. I mean, really, my date paid good money for us to experience hostage takeover!
I guess one can only be satisfied though that a few got sacrificed to the alter of maniac greed.
nail biter
2009-12-11 - This remake is every bit as good as the original, way back then when there were no personal computers. Worth seeing again especially since I used to ride the Pelham line to work.
Pretty good remake
2009-12-10 - Denzel good, not great; Travolta over the top; nice cameo by Gandolfini; faithful remake; good PQ & AQ; would have liked to have seen alternate ending to film though (as an extra feature).
