Seen on: June 12, 2009

The players: Director: Tony Scott, Writer: Brian Helgeland, Cast: Denzel Washington, John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Brian Haley

Facts of interest: Remake of Joseph Sargent's 1974 flick of the same title.

The plot: A New York City subway dispatcher is thrust into the middle of a hostage situation on-board a subway train.

Our thoughts: I didn’t exactly love Tony Scott’s “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3” remake, but much to the film’s credit, it sure did entertain me for most of its running time. “Pelham” has its flaws, and the central plot could have been a tad more intriguing, but all in all, it qualifies as a decent summer thriller that mostly works.

Denzel Washington plays Walter Garber, a New York City subway dispatcher who’s in for quite the ride when he’s pulled into the middle of a hijacking of one of his trains. Orchestrating the hostage situation is a man called Ryder (John Travolta), who threatens to kill passengers unless he receives $10 million in less than an hour.

That’s the basic setup of the film, and for the next hour and a half, Walter is glued to his radio trying everything in his power to keep the situation under control. Ryder, however, is a clever guy who doesn’t want to be messed with, and his cocky attitude and dangerous honesty further complicate things for Walter and everybody else involved.

“Pelham 1 2 3” is an overall vibrant thriller that successfully manages to generate a solid dose of suspense, despite a more or less simplistic story line that boasts strong characters but otherwise remains rather thin. The film remains quite interesting until the final act, which quickly derails when Walter and Ryder finally meet face to face.

It’s a shame really that things get out of hand in the end, mainly because the final showdown is just so much worse than the rest of the film. There are many ways they could have wrapped up the movie, but this one is clearly the most disappointing. Think of it as the easy way out of something more complex.

What I did like about “Pelham” were the characters. Washington’s Walter is a man with an interesting personality, and through his radio conversations with Ryder, audiences get to catch a good look at how he really functions. To be honest, the verbal cat-and-mouse game between the two is what I found most intriguing about the flick.

Tony Scott is someone with his own special directorial/visual style, and “Pelham” is no different than his other films. The fast editing and overall hectic direction certainly give the whole thing an extra edge, but not every cinemagoer will appreciate these extravagant technical aspects.

Both Washington and Travolta deliver decent enough acting, but neither of them really stands out. They make their characters work and come across authentic enough, but we don’t really see that one special thing in either one of their performances.

Freaky quote: "Let them unload on me." – John Travolta

The final word: All in all, I mildly enjoyed the ride on Scott’s “Pelham 1 2 3.” It’s by no means a memorable thriller or even a film I would revisit, but it definitely kept me engaged until things start blowing up toward the end.

Article by Franck Tabouring