Day 15: May 15th, 2010

The Taking of Pelham 123



It Was A Nice Try

Pelham 123 is taken over by John Travolta is his posse. Denzel Washington is the poor guy who's working the day this happens and he is stuck in the middle of it all. Travolta doesn't want to speak with the hostage negotiator, he wants to speak with Washington. Demands are made, people are killed and this remake lacks what I wanted from a hostage film. That would be suspense.

Travolta is the bad guy, I dig it. He's been bad before. In Face/Off he had a lot of fun impersonating Nic Cage, I had fun with him too. In Broken Arrow he is up against Christian Slater, this time Travolta plays it cool. Pulp Fiction, he gained his respect back as Vincent the hit-man. In this one he cut his hair short and crew out a goatee. He looks really ridiculous, but that's besides the point. He is not terrifying here and for some odd reason it sounded really awkward when he would start swearing. Like it was some kind of forced material, it did not flow like in his other films.

Washington is the good guy, he is the loser, not knowing what to do, yet gets it done. He doesn't go above and beyond, he plays it regular. His pairing with Tony Scott here is very ho- hum. He doesn't command the screen and he shouldn't because it's not that type of character. But then again, Travolta doesn't either, when he really should have.

The suspense is no where to be found. I appreciate the gratitude the film puts the hostages in. A lot of films are scared to kill off some hostages, this one isn't. Usually we would also get to know some of the hostages, maybe find interest in the characters. Not here, they are on the back burner. So we could care less about them living or dying.

There is a subplot involving Washington taking a bribe, doesn't do much for me, or the story. The direction is as expected from Tony Scott. It gels with the same crowed as Domino, Man on Fire and Deja Vu. I do give it a little more respect than some of those I mentioned though because it doesn't have the same colour tinted editing that really got old fast. Domino and Man on Fire are guilty.

This remake is an okay way to spend 2 hours, it doesn't suck. But it doesn't really stay with you either, or turn up on your best of lists. What it boils down to is, this is mediocre and is full of characters that I just couldn't essentially care about. I haven't seen the original either, but that doesn't matter. Washington is more convincing than Travolta. Actually, when I look back and think about it, it wasn't all bad...until the last 20 or so minutes. Then it gets really out of hand.

5.5/10