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Amazon.co.uk Review
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 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)
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 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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Product Description
John Travolta, Denzel Washington, James GandolfiniDirectors: Tony Scott
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Faultless release on BRD for thriller that's a little too straight forward,
By
This review is from: The Taking of Pelham 123 [Blu-ray] [2010][Region Free] (Blu-ray)
Although I did enjoy Tony Scott's latest effort, I can't see its simple plot and characters rewarding repeated viewings. Everything is exactly as described, there are no surprises in the story, no clever plot twists, and no interesting exposures of the main characters personas. Oddly, as I'm used to watching convoluted thrillers nowadays, I found myself trying to second guess from the moment the film started where the curve balls were, but after about 45 minutes of saying to myself "Ah...he REALLY is going to do that..." or "so that WAS true then...", I started to get wise to the idea and realised that the only surprise was there were no surprises. In the end, this is rather unsatisfying. The finale, where a plot twist is normally de riguer for a thriller, is a real let down.
Washington and Travolta, along with an excellent supporting cast, actually put in very strong performances (more than the film deserves I think), although Travolta does descend into pantomime on a couple of occasions. Tony Scott's direction is more excitable than usual, and although the many fast cuts and swooshing pans are fun to watch (I particularly enjoyed the thrilling opening sequence), they are soon in danger of becoming migraine inducing as the film progresses. The script is generally strong, but becomes weak during the exchanges between Washington and Travolta where it really needed to bite, very odd. Image quality is exactly what we should expect from a modern BRD release; superb, with plenty of detail and a realistic level of grain (helping to add an accurate cinematic texture). The soundtrack is even more impressive, with good spacial separation and deep bass where required. Music is also intelligently used, and there is plenty going on in the surrounds during the action scenes. I can't see anybody wishing to actually own this release, unless they are big Travolta or Washington fans. There's just not enough depth to the story or characters to justify watching it more than once. I recommend renting it first.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Advance info on the transfer,
By Mr. Blu (Europe) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Taking of Pelham 123 [Blu-ray] [2010][Region Free] (Blu-ray)
I already have the Blu-Ray, so if you are wondering whether to pre-order or not maybe the following might be of help.
The picture quality is very good. An annoying caveat is that there are scenes of willful quality reduction, such as Travolta's face so often seen from outside the train through the not entirely clean glass window. It is quite late in the film until we start to see really satisfying showcase close-ups of Travolta which are on a par with the shots of Washington throughout. A cynic might wonder how come we get to see so many better shots of his Breitling watch. But the undisturbed scenes show very sharp detailing, depth and plasticity with rich, natural colours and excellent contrasts. There are a lot of fairly dark scenes but neither grain nor the yellow colour filtration ever intrude in any truly objectionable way. Sound quality is excellent, with very good balancing of dialogue and effects. The music on the menu is a little restrained, don't worry, it is much more forthright in the film proper. Those who know the film will realise that a lot of scenes do not give that much potential for great surround effects trickery, but every opportunity is exploited to the maximum e.g. with the convoy of police at several points speeding through tunnels and into other showcase moments for surround sound. The film itself is a light-footed, hip thriller situated somewhere between "The Negotiator" and "Die Hard", not quite as clever as the former, not as much action as the latter, but still very entertaining. The heart of the film is the series of verbal jousts between Garber (Washington) and Ryder (Travolta). There is no serious shortage of action in the film, but dialogue and very good acting performances (also from Turturro and Gandolfini) are what stand out the most. It is perhaps not the most original of films, and some of Travolta's tough-talking, obscenity-littered dialogue does not always ring quite true, but I found the film to be free of any major lulls, gripping throughout and filled with tension. A clear recommendation and a film where the sound and picture quality definitely justify the upgrade to Blu-Ray. Extras are solid if unspectacular making-of featurettes and a few trailers.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Really good film!,
By
This review is from: The Taking of Pelham 123 [DVD] [2010] (DVD)
Bought it for the bf, and its actually really good.. you think you will know the ending but you really dont!
quiet a bit of action in it aswell
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