Pelham 1 2 3 Works

But stalls once it leaves the subway behind

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is the third time (Déjà Vu, Man on Fire) that director Tony Scott and Denzel Washington have collaborated. This time they bring along another leading man in John Travolta (Hairspray) who is the movies antagonist. Luis Guzmán (Out of Sight), James Gandolfini (most famous for his portrayal of Tony Soprano in the HBO series The Sopranos) and John Turturro (Transformers) round out the supporting cast. Like Man on Fire, Scott is remaking yet another film from a few decades ago which was good film in its own right. The film is based on the thriller novel by Morton Freedgood that tells the tale of a few armed men that hijack a subway train in New York City and demand $10 million within the hour.

Instantly when the movie starts you know Scott is directing. Scott brings his distinctive directing style with his kinetic, fast edits or blurred images which really cause the movie to pop right off the screen at you. His superb direction makes this film feel like it has much more action to it than it really does because of the inventive editing he uses so well. Finding imagery of New York City that is original must be very difficult but the film really has some unique shots of the Brooklyn Bridge. One thing I liked was that Scott and crew were unafraid to show a good chunk of graffiti that is not normally even in the background of most movies featuring New York City. Another standout was the unique digitized map (almost Google Earth like) that brought us the information of how far the money was from the train.

I haven’t read Brian Helgeland’s script but I think Scott should have made him make some subtle changes to Travolta’s character and his dialogue. I really can’t imagine that Helgeland had Travolta in mind when he wrote the part. That is not to say that his performance was a failure. It just wasn’t great. Travolta excelled when he needed to be really insane or during his heart to heart conversations over the radio with Washington’s character. Other then that though he could not seem to find a middle ground that worked. Denzel Washington varies from his normal cop related character (even though some traits remain) to becoming an everyman with a dirty little secret (it really is a small one). This is another solid role that Washington does well in. The real bonus to this film is the supporting cast of James Gandolfini and John Turturro in their very limited roles. Gandolfini is especially great as the mayor of New York City. I would vote for him and watch any film he plays a politician from now on. Turturro was good but his role as the un-likeable cop seemed very close to his character in Transformers.

Endings have been one of Scott’s strong suits. They aren’t always your normal run of the mill ending and are sometimes quite unconventional. My expectation may have risen because I knew it was his film but the ending fell flat. The film lost almost all the momentum that it had gained early on. Washing away the originality that was making it such a fun film with a clichéd ending that left me a little bitter once it finished.

Straight from the opening montage of New York City to the lacklustre ending the movie is never in sync with the music. From the Jay-Z/Linkin Park sample of “99 Problems” to the score that kind of appears and vanishes with you barely noticing it which really leaves you wondering why it was even there in the first place.

If you are a fan of either Scott or Washington I suggest you at least give this film a chance. It may not be better than Déjà Vu but probably just as good, even though it is a slightly different type of film.

3 out of 5
Colin Enquist