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 s 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?
From .co.uk
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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 car being wrecked as the
ransom is rushed uptown; Scott requires multiple collisions, each
the occasion for 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 Honour, 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)
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Synopsis
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Directed by visionary filmmaker Tony Scott (True Romance, Top
) this remake of the 1974 classic pits heavyweights Denzel
Washington and John Travolta against each other. Washington plays
a subway dispatcher in New York City who uses all his knowledge
to stop the train hijacking by Travolta's Ryder. The film marks
the fourth collaboration between Washington and director Scott,
the pair having previously worked together on Crimson Tide, Man
on Fire and Deja Vu.
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