Starring:
Denzel Washington, John Travolta, Luis Guzman, John Turturro, Ramon Rodriguez and James Gandolfini

Director:
Tony Scott

Running Time:
121 mins

Out to buy on Blu-Ray/DVD 11/01/10

• Denzel Washington is as good as ever
• Certainly keeps up the tension

• Another unnecessary remake
• John Travolta is almost pantomime like as the bad guy
• Disappointing ending

"Life is simple now. They just have to do what I say."

For Walter Garber (Washington) this was going to be his last day controlling this section of the New York subway system but when the Pelham 123 train stops suddenly and cuts contact, he realises that something is wrong. As he and his team investigate, a voice comes over the radio declaring that the subway train with nineteen passengers has been taken and if $10 million does not arrive within an hour then for every minute it is late, a passenger will did. With the NYPD and FBI involved, the person on the other end of the radio, known only as Ryder (Travolta), refuses to talk to anyone other than Garber.

Hollywood continues to run out of ideas but can a remake in the hands of director Tony Scott make us forget about the 70s original?

John Godey’s novel ‘The Taking of Pelham One Two Three’ has been adapted for the big screen and the small screen, with the 70s original starring Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw influencing many a crime thriller that followed. With Hollywood thinking that the current cinematic audience will not watch anything that was produced before 1990, studios continue to look back in the archives to find stories that will appeal to a modern audience but the problem is that they should have left this one alone.

The story of an average man having to step up and take on the bad guys is nothing new in cinema and in this new version of ‘The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3’ we have this scenario again. Here we have New York subway controller Walter Garber who gets dragged into a hostage situation after he investigates the Pelham 123 train’s stoppage in a tunnel. A group of armed men have taken the carriage over and its passengers hostage, asking the City of New York to pay $10 million within one hour or for every minute they are late, a hostage will be shot. The hostage takers’ leader will only speak to Walter and it is now up to him to keep the situation calm as the deadline approaches or people will die. Changing the premise of the original 70s movie slightly and updating for the new millennium, you might have expected this to be a good thriller but unfortunately because of one big reason, it is not.

Everything is here. Director Tony Scott, the man behind ‘Top Gun’, ‘Crimson Tide’, ‘Man on Fire’, ‘Enemy of the State’ and ‘Déjà Vu’ is no stranger to action thrillers, Denzel Washington returns to work with the director again for the fifth time and a supporting cast that includes the always excellent John Turturro, Luis Guzman and James Gandolfini. It is the inclusion of John Travolta as the villain Ryder that completely ruins the movie however. While he is no stranger to playing the villain, as he did in ‘Broken Arrow’, ‘Face/Off’, ‘The Punisher’ and ‘Swordfish’, his performance as the mastermind behind the hostage taking and the man with a bigger and very predictable plan is just far too pantomime like. Dressed in a ‘Benny’ hat and sunglasses, even though he is in a subway tunnel, with a tattoo on his neck to make him look hard and a daft handlebar moustache, all Travolta does is constantly swear and cackle like a pantomime villain every time he graces the screen. This completely ruins the movie and makes it almost unwatchable, as every time Travolta comes on screen, you will cringe.

‘The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3’ is another unnecessary remake and a movie that is completely ruined by the performance of John Travolta. While Denzel Washington is good in whatever he does and Tony Scott’s movies continue to blend into one long, slow-mo filled, camera rotating, action sequence, Travolta destroys what could have been a decent action flick