The Taking of Pelham 123 sets out to remake a classic 1974 novel that was adapted to TV in 1998.  It’s a decent attempt- but despite the action-packed scenes, star-studded cast and ok cinematography, nothing can save the sheer absurdity of the plot holes that literally bleed this film dry. 

Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) is on the job as an MTA dispatcher when armed men lead by Ryder (John Travolta) take over a 6 train in New York City and hold hostages to a ransom of ten million dollars.  The police led by NYPD Hostage Negotiator Detective Camonetti (John Tutorro) find themselves in a high stakes game to take Ryder out before he kills anymore hostages.

Been There Done That – With movies like John Q, American Gangster and The Inside Man, Denzel Washington seems to be acting a familiar role in a similar face-off situation, but instead of putting him against a strong actor like Russell Crowe in a character showdown, they’ve put Denzel as a straight-shooting good guy trying to reform his former mistake of accepting bribes on his job and give his antagonist Ryder pretty much most of the cards.  This is a nice twist of events, but the problem is the role doesn’t fit Denzel Washington’s acting- he’s practically trying to break out of his character and assert authority from moment to moment- to play that smart “I’m on top of the world” male lead that he’s used to portraying. 

Unrealistic for Today’s Audiences – Maybe a decade or two ago some of the Ryder’s plans might have had some credibility- but put an older story into a modern setting and you’ve got serious problems.  The Mayor (played by James Gandolfini) probably said it best (“Why can’t they just bring it over by helicopter?” ) as the incompetent cops rush the ransom money across New York with a motorcycle escort to appease Ryder’s demands.  These cops get into numerous car accidents along the way (an unbelievable total of three total pileups) to delay the payment, causing the situation to intensify.  A few more inaccuracies are thrown in from the contrived situation itself; cops don’t pay ransoms and an atrocious sniper scene, where the one sniper sent to the scene fires upon one of the terrorists accidentally because a rat crawls up his pant leg.  In any real hostage situation the cops would have enlisted a sniper team and probably killed all the terrorists simultaneously with a bullet to the head instead of letting an incompetent rookie flop up in the tracks.   The lack of attention to details will leave audiences wondering why the hostages didn’t pull the emergency brake when the train is spiraling out of control or why Ryder even thought for a second that he could just walk out a subway station and go scot free from the whole incident.  The attempt to modernize something old is never a good idea and The Taking of Pelham 123 fails to recognize this need for updating the story.

Ryder – The Man With No Past – The most interesting character of the movie is John Travolta’s character, which he plays well.  The problem is the movie shuts its viewers down just as it gets close to revealing some of his motivations behind the terrorist plot.  All of Ryder’s philosophical rants about sticking it to the man get lost if he really is in it to make just a cold profit, and even more troubling is the strange notion that he seems to know that he’s enacting a plan that he will fail at.  If someone else is supposed to be profiting off his actions (his wife perhaps?) there just aren’t enough clues given to aid viewers and the movie ends up tossing a great character into the trash at the finish.

Conclusion – It’s great to see Denzel Washington go outside his usual roles a bit, it’s also good to see him face off against John Travolta finally in a movie.  But the story just cannot save any amount of effort these actors put into their roles, and even the directing which was exciting and well-paced falls apart due to a poor choice in story threads and empty scenes.  The Mayor’s suspenseful inclusion into the negotiation seems to have no bearing on the events, as well as a web-cam subplot from inside the subway (which technologically makes no sense) that ends up only there to show it seems that Ryder is capable of killing hostages.  These senseless actions ruin a movie with potential, and even though it will entertain, The Taking of Pelham 123 simply could have been way better.

Recommended:
No