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

SiM Focus: Hughes Brothers

Do the brothers have another great film coming?

BY COLIN ENQUIST

Hughes brothers' (Albert and Allen) films are so often violent and visceral that critics have either loved or hated with no in-between. Music videos were how Albert and Allen got into the film industry and it all got started in 1993. When the film Menace II Society debuted (at Cannes Film Festival) the co-directors (and co-writers with Tyger Williams) had, in my opinion, created their most accepted movie yet. Dead Presidents didn't really impress me, many critics or fans that the duo was slowly gaining. The third film the duo shot (not including their brief stint into the documentry arena) was the Alan Moore adaptation of Jack the Ripper, titled From Hell. The result of their first time playing around with Hollywood's big budget (double what the first two films they shot cost) was again received with a very mixed reaction. Being hailed as "A rare, clever, horror film" (Kim Newman Empire Magazine) or trashed "The Hughes boys blow it by burying a fine cast ... in stock scares, sappy romance and clichés that really are from hell" (John Travers Rolling Stone), From Hell was given a NC-17 rating before they cut out some of the gore. Tension was reportedly growing on the set of From Hell where one brother wanted to show the gore while the other was fine with it being implied off-screen.

The brothers have also, on a few occasions, been known to make questionable decisions.
The consequences of one of these decisions resulted in an altercation with Tupac Shakur during a music video shoot, which may have been over what role was chosen for the rapper in their upcoming film Menace II Society. Shakur was dropped from starring in Menace and the brothers took him to court where he was eventually sentenced to 15 days in prison. Marijuana is another item the brothers are very candid about, not keeping their love for smoking it a secret at all! They embrace both their African-American and Armenian heritage but dislike when they are called upon to speak on behalf of African-Americans. Albert has stated that he believes his artistic ability comes from his Armenian side.

Gary Whitta wrote the script for The Book of Eli (set photo to the left), the brothers' first film together since 2001's From Hell. Allen who typically works with the actors while directing will get to work with Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis, Gary Oldman and Ray Stevenson who star in the film which has a release date of January 15th, 2010. Albert focuses more on the technical aspects of the film. Not much is known about the film aside from it being set in a post-apocalyptic world, where a lone hero (Washington) guards the Book of Eli, that could provide knowledge that could redeem society, while others conspire (Oldman) to take possession of the book. The film sounds interesting and I think with the track record of the directors it is safe to say this will at least be worth viewing if not another good film.