The original version of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) was a dark, funny suspense thriller based on the John Godey novel about the hijacking of a New York City subway that starred Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw.
This new version, slightly retitled The Taking of Pelham 123 (a reference to the dispatcher's designation given to a train starting its run from the Pelham Bay Park terminal in the Bronx at 1:23 p.m.) has been updated, adjusted for inflation (the ransom demand has jumped from $1 million to $10 million), and given the characteristically amped-up-action treatment by director Tony Scott.
Denzel Washington and John Travolta, as protagonist and antagonist (both of them based on real New Yorkers who had similar criminal and legal entanglements), lend a good deal of star power to this cat-and-mouse thriller.
Washington (top right) put on some weight to play subway dispatcher Walter Garber, a civil servant who works for the city's Metropolitan Transportation Authority. He remains in a certain amount of hot water for a job-related transgression -- a bribery investigation is underway -- that has him being closely monitored by his superiors.
So when what starts out as just another day at the office for the demoted dispatcher quickly turns into something else entirely, his bosses and colleagues wonder whether he might be involved in some way.
Travolta (bottom right) plays the vengeance-minded criminal, very familiar with what's going on on Wall Street this very day, who masterminds a plan in which he and three armed henchmen (including Luis Guzman) hijack the first car of a subway train, then threaten to execute the passengers unless a large ransom is paid.
James Gandolfini portrays the Michael-Bloomberg-crossed-with-Rudy-Giuliani mayor, and John Turturro the NYPD hostage negotiator who steps in when the Big Apple's dilemma of the day presents itself.
The strengths and weaknesses of director Tony Scott (True Romance, Top Gun), in this fourth collaboration with Denzel Washingon (Crimson Tide, Man on Fire, Deja Vu) are on display. That is, Scott offers us a number of ticking-clock countdowns as he aims for a balance of action and suspense, but the hyperkinetic film could use more of the latter and less of the former.
As he often does, Scott overdoes the jittery-camera-movement, rapid-fire-editing version of high energy.
The script by Brian Helgeland, with just a touch of mordant humor, is an express, not a local, so the film doesn't make every narrative stop as it tunnels on, not quite following through on its birds-of-a-feather approach to the two pivotal characters and letting a number of plot points tumble onto the tracks.
The screenplay falters at the end, stretching itself out of shape for the purpose of creating a preposterous face-to-face-showdown sequence for the film's two stars as part of the generic ending.
But what precedes the third-act meltdown is an effectively engrossing and edgy exercise in guts, guile, and guilt.
So we'll transfer at 2½ stars out of 4 for The Taking of Pelham 123, an overly caffeinated but nonetheless visceral thriller that doesn't always stay on track but still delivers a rip-roaring rapid-transit ride.
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This week KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine look at the comedy-war film, "The Men Who Stare at Goats," the animated re-make, "A Christmas Carol," and the horror-mystery-thriller "The Fourth Kind." (18:45)
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KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Astro Boy", "Amelia" and "Cirque du Freak - The Vampires Assistant". (3:00)
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Denzel Washington and John Travolta, as protagonist and antagonist (both of them based on real New Yorkers who had similar criminal and legal entanglements), lend a good deal of star power to this cat-and-mouse thriller.
Travolta (bottom right) plays the vengeance-minded criminal, very familiar with what's going on on Wall Street this very day, who masterminds a plan in which he and three armed henchmen (including Luis Guzman) hijack the first car of a subway train, then threaten to execute the passengers unless a large ransom is paid.
