Movie Review: The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
'Pelham' fulfills action movie mission
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Custom-made for summer, The Taking of Pelham 123 stars screaming cross-town car races, a New York City subway car filled with hostages and an angry man who will kill if his deadline is not met. Action director Tony Scott helms this predictable, noisy summer movie with lean efficiency. The film also reunites Scott with leading man Denzel Washington, the two having previously worked together in Crimson Tide and Man on Fire.
The Taking of Pelham 123 pairs two of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces. On the surface, it’s simple: Washington as good guy versus John Travolta, bad guy. But Brian Helgeland’s script throws some refreshing uncertainty in the mix. Washington, the good family man who worked his way up through New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority system, may not be so clean after all.
His management reputation clouded by an accusation of corruption, Washington gets demoted to subway dispatcher at the city’s transit’s rail control center. He’s at his post when Travolta and his armed associates hijack a subway train and its passengers.
“This is the man who’s gonna rock this city,” Travolta tells Washington through the subway communication system.
Despite The Taking of Pelham 123’s hurtling subway cars, overabundant mid-city auto pursuits, sniper fire and outright execution, the movie’s real drama occurs between its two leading men.
Sympathies naturally side with Washington. Looking everyman-like in glasses, he, at first, is just a guy on the job, doing his subway dispatching duties as best he can. But then the scheming Travolta blindsides him. With no time to waste, Washington must engage his manipulative, bullying opponent in a game of life and death.
Some great scenes between two-time Oscar winner Washington and the twice-nominated Travolta play out. Travolta has perhaps never been so evil on screen. Before the script dutifully restores Washington to falsely heroic clichés, he descends into troubling water.
Supporting players include John Turturro as an NYPD hostage negotiator. Turturro is calm under pressure but alert enough to know when his tactics aren’t working. But his character, too, is saddled with script machinations. And playing a mayor of New York who’s part Rudy Giuliani, part Michael Bloomberg and no hero whatsoever, James Gandolfini barely registers.
The Taking of Pelham 123 fulfills its summer action movie mission. Its leading men exceed the genre’s usual requirements, however, if only briefly.
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