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The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

Director: Tony Scott

Time Out rating

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11 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Click here for our video interview with the director of Pelham 123

In the annals of unnecessary remakes, few have felt more pointless than ‘The Taking of Pelham 123’. John Godey’s grimy dimestore novel was originally adapted for the big screen back in 1974, resulting in a taut thriller notable for inspiring Tarantino to create his colour-coded criminals in ‘Reservoir Dogs’. There’s no Mr Blue or Mr Green in Tony Scott’s remake – and it’s hard to imagine it inspiring anyone to do anything.

It starts well enough, as John Travolta’s burly, porn-moustachioed ex-con Ryder and his gang of thinly characterised crims take over a New York subway train and hold the passengers at gunpoint. Cue Denzel Washington’s Garber, an out-of-his-depth desk jockey with a sketchy moral history and a rapport with the bad guys. Let the verbal sparring commence!

The film’s mid-section, in which these two fine actors chew manfully through Brian Helgeland’s dialogue despite repeated interruption from James Gandolfini’s portly Mayor and Scott’s zipline shakycam histrionics, just about holds the attention. There are nice turns from John Turturro as a twitchy hostage negotiator and Luis Guzman as a squirrelly crook. But it all collapses in the final act, eschewing tension in favour of a series of dimly lit tunnel-bound shootouts. ‘The Taking of Pelham 123’ is not a bad film: it’s ponderous and shallow, but always watchable. But what it crucially fails to do, especially in the light of its illustrious predecessor, is justify its own existence.

Author: Tom Huddleston 2009-07-28 11:52:44

Time Out London Issue 2032, 29 July -4 August, 2009

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User reviews of this film

critique said...

Posted on Aug 20 2009 17:34 Decent action thriller (I can`t remember having seeen the original).

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sam said...

Posted on Aug 06 2009 04:29 i really dont get all you snobs who say it was not a good film haha. film was quality, travolta playing a great bad guy as usual and washington doing what he usually does to make him one of modern days best actors. good film defo worth all your money.

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SRS said...

Posted on Aug 05 2009 22:18 Been to see this tonight... Really enjoyed it, some nice one liners from Denzel which had the audience in the cinema i was in laughing, thought JT was very convincing, yes his character is like the ones he played in Swordfish and Broken Arrow, but he plays them SO well. Overall a good couple of hours entertainment and highly recommended.

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Sweetchockl8 said...

Posted on Aug 05 2009 00:16 Very good movie.. like Denzel and Travolta. Two great actors doing what they do best. I would recommend it to all.

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chris said...

Posted on Aug 04 2009 18:35 I have just come back from seeing this film, I thought it was great. Both John Travolta And Denzel Washington were very good. Would recommend to all.

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Sade said...

Posted on Aug 02 2009 19:49 The film was great. I did enjoy it. Two great actors.

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Pete said...

Posted on Aug 02 2009 06:40 Just forget that this is a remake of a movie that if placed side by side, despite the rosy views to the contrary, was just an OK movie this is a very watchable film with two great actors. Travolta is a convincing ex-con driven by greed and revenge against a plea deal that landed him in the hole for 10 years for a supine white collar crime. Denzel is the voice of reason with a sticky fingered past - great film all the way - with dodgy guy hereos and ineffectual cops. Stop living in the movieland past - TO reviewers.

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james said...

Posted on Aug 02 2009 03:36 when i heard that travolta and washington where going to star in a film i was expectant.... but all it seems to take is..... TWO good hollywood actors thats seem to make it fail ?

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mary said...

Posted on Aug 01 2009 17:35 Enjoyed this film- just glad I'm not using an underground system any time soon....

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Andy S said...

Posted on Jul 30 2009 16:09 Not bad...not seen the original but maybe thats why I liked it. Denzel's always fab, and JT is basically the same character from 'Broken Arrow' and 'Swordfish'. Still, Gandolfi is a super mayor for a fat lad!!! And it keeps you gripped...rare for a Hollywood flick at present.

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ARCHGATE said...

Posted on Jul 29 2009 20:47 Even the earsplitting soundtrack which puncuates every scene cannot save this terrible re-make. This over-edited mess of a film fails to use Denzel's talents which are normally in abundance. Travolta phones in his performance as the hijacker who dabbles in the stockmarket. The most interesting part of the film was looking at the mistake concerning the Breitling watch worn by Jonny Travolta. James Gandolfini as the mayor is a total waste of his considerable talent. Whoever wrote this script should be foreced to ride the Northern line from one end to the other on the London Undderground as punishment. Avoid. Swine flu would be a better alternative than this nonsense. No rating.

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