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The Taking of Pelham 123

Reviewed by maroon5gurl88 - Fri June 12, 2009

It's easy to see the previews for The Taking of Pelham 123 and see a mindless action film with a runaway subway...which the movie is for the most part. But underneath all that the film has two strong leading men holding together an engaging and highly entertaining plot that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

When a group of hijackers lead by the mysterious Ryder (John Travolta) take over a subway car and demand a hefty fee for the hostages, it's up to civil servant Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) to keep the madman under control until the money is delivered. As various circumstances prevent the money from being delivered in a timely fashion Ryder takes a liking to Garber and demands he bring the money himself. What starts as a case of figuring out who Ryder is and saving the lives of innocent civilians turns into a game of cat and mouse with Garber secretly trying to gain redemption for a past transgression.

I must admit I didn't have high hopes for this movie at all. Having only seen a few Tony Scott films it's easy to see him as a slightly different version of Michael Bay: all action and no plot line. I must say though I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable this movie was. Sure it won't win any awards and critics are lambasting the movie for all it's worth, but if you enjoy highly entertaining action films this delivers in spades. From the minute Ryder gets on the subway you're right along for the ride and the man is nothing short of unpredictable. The interactions with him and Garber over the radios leads to a lot of rapid fire dialogue and some brilliant character interactions. The action is all non-stop and intense. When the cop car carrying the money is crashed you're heart jumps a little bit, when a young boy has a gun in his face you're jumping around wondering whether his life will be saved. A lot of this is due to the villain but Scott makes everything move at such a quick pace you never have time to grab your bearings before something else is being thrown at you which constantly keeps the audience on their toes. Most hostage movies have a tendency to either overdevelop the characters in peril or simply make them stock characters that can easily be disposed of. Where Scott takes a detour is that we learn as much about the characters as anyone would learn if they were on the subway. The group is never identified by name but they have small groupings and learn things about each other that they would probably learn if they talked during the ride. This also helps the audience since there's no confusion about who's who and what their individual stories are. The last few minutes where Travolta and Washington are actually together is the strongest since they are two giant actors with a wonderful ability to riff off each other and is worth the price of admission alone.

It was mentioned above that it could be seen that this is a mindless action movie and unfortunately the movie's biggest flaws are due to this. The film is incredibly formulaic and predictable so don't expect any new ground to be tread. While I applaud Tony Scott for not resorting to the dreaded shaky cam in this film he does have a problem with what I dubbed “spinning cam” where the camera constantly spins from left to right around the actors. It's incredibly disorientating and at some points completely out of place. While it won't give you quite the nauseating headache of shaky cam I did find myself looking away during the dialogue scenes because of the movement. The story does have some implausible action sequences involving flying cars yet mildly scratched drivers but that is to be expected. The biggest issue is the constant need for Travolta to say a particular expletive. He practically ends every sentence with it (I think I only counted a few sentences where he doesn't say it) and after awhile I wished they gave him a new word.

The acting is also surprisingly strong in a film like this. Scott mainstay Denzel Washington tones down his leading man looks to play Walter Garber. He does humble really well and just owns every scene he's in. John Travolta always does well as a villain in my opinion and he is highly amusing as Ryder. He's heartless in some scenes and downright scary in others. He does overact and has some really bad dialogue but nothing that you won't be able to get over. John Turturro is okay as the hostage negotiator but really he doesn't matter against the two stronger leads. The weakest link is James Gandolfini as the mayor. I'm not sure if director Scott intentionally parodied Governor Elliot Spitzer but if he didn't that's the first thing you'll think of.

Overall The Taking of Pelham 123 is a great popcorn flick. Having not seen the original I can't speak for it in terms of paying tribute but as a summer action film it more than takes the cake. I give it a 3.5/5.


The Taking of Pelham 123
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1081 Fri June 12, 2009
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