Judged purely on its own merit, and independent of comparisons to the 1974 original starring Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw, Tony Scott's remake of The Taking of Pelham 123 is a pretty engaging thriller.

John Travolta stars as a suitably over-the-top criminal mastermind, who hijacks a New York subway train full of passengers, and demands a 10 million dollar ransom. Threatening to bump off passengers one by one if the money doesn't get to him in an hour, he finds himself forming a strange bond with his negotiator, the subway employee at the other end of the intercom, played by Denzel Washington.

The film works despite its many imperfections because it's got a breathless energy to it, and an edge-of-the-seat quality that keeps you hooked. Much of what's happening over-ground is shot in a grainy, handheld style to give it a sense of immediacy, and some cool thrills are provided by those scenes in which a police car accompanied by a cavalcade of motorbikes crashes and bangs its way through Manhattan peak hour traffic to deliver the ransom money before the deadline.

Travolta and Washington offer solid enough performances, and they're joined by John Turturro and James Gandolfini who co-star as an NYPD hostage negotiator and the Mayor of New York respectively.

The film is far from flawless. Technological marvels like a hostage communicating with his girlfriend on his laptop via the Internet from the underground is something that can happen only in the movies. Not to mention how implausible that particular scenario is.

It's a gripping film nevertheless because of its frenetic pace, and for that I'm going with three out of five for director Tony Scott's The Taking of Pelham 123. The original film may be an ace battle of wits. This one is a very watchable blow-em-up pic. Take lots of popcorn with you.

Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)

"Taking of Pelham 123" was the movie that had it all. A great director in Tony Scott, screenwriter in Brian Helgeland (Man on Fire, LA Confidential), and leading men in Denzel Washington and John Travolta each doing what they do best. To its credit, Washington and Travolta keep it afloat. This is the kind of movie both can do in their sleep and watching them go one on one with each other is the film's main bright spot. Were also in for a pretty exciting ride as Tony Scott swings his camera around New York city streets and underground subway tunnels. Though this remake of the 1974 film starring Walter Mathau and Robert Shaw proves to be a little less than the sum of its parts.

Washington plays Walter Garber, the chief detective for the MTA currently involved in some controversy over a bribe he may or may not have taken. While that's being worked out, he's been reassigned to desk duty as dispatcher in the subway command center. Just today will be a day unlike any other as armed men hijack a New York City subway 6 train and hold all of its passengers hostage. The leader of the hi-jackers wishes to be called Ryder (John Travolta), and tells Walter that he wants 10 million dollars within an hour or he will start executing hostages. The cops (led by John Turturro) are brought in but Walter remains as the lead negotiator at Ryder's request.

Short on actual plot, I was expecting more of a character driven movie and early on it appears to go in that direction. There is a great scene where Ryder puts Walter on trial for the bribe and it leads you to think that these two are going to butt heads in dialogue-driven scenes all day long, exposing each other for who they really are. Just the battle of wits ends there, which is unfortunate cause the movie really crackles whenever they talk to each other. Travolta, sporting a menacing goatee and tattoo, is at his over-the-top, f-bomb-dropping, lunatic best and Washington is his level-headed, average-guy adversary.

The rest is all action. Car crashes and shoot-outs take place, the car crashes coming within a sloppy scene where the police travel by motorcade to deliver the money and the shoot-out starting from a rat crawling up a guy's leg of all things. Both feature no important characters and situations that are manipulated. The finale comes before you know it, a chase through the streets of NY that's more exciting because it makes more sense. And Tony Scott, despite using clichés like counting down the clock and going into slow-motion, keeps the movie gritty and fast-paced. As for the rest of the cast, James Gandolfini, playing a New York Mayor, is good comic relief, getting jokes about Giuliani, subways, and the Yankees but Turturro and Luis Guzman, playing a disgruntled MTA employee working with Ryder, don't get much to do.

"Pelham" works pretty well as a thriller because the Tony Scott-Denzel Washington teaming (this is their fourth go-around) always seems to do so and adding Travolta, always fun as a villain, is another nice touch. Just it doesn't always leave you engaged in what's happening, whether because the plot or the action lacks humanity. Still it's held together by good acting and solid direction and for that alone it's worth a ride.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, from the minute I saw the trailer, this looked like it was going to be such an exciting thriller. We have two great actors in the leads: John Travolta and Dezel Washington. Where could you go wrong with that? So my boyfriend and I saw this movie a couple nights ago and had a great time. The movie was intense and provided very good action… BUT… there is a huge but… the film just fell flat at the end. The first and second act are extremely entertaining and beyond intense, two power house actors pulling in very decent performances, had great chemistry and did a good job with the script they were given. But what the heck was with the ending? We shift into this Action 101 book of clichés list and was a complete let down. As a movie, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is certainly entertaining, but when it comes to being realistic, yeah, it's pretty bad.

Four heavily armed men, led by a man who calls himself "Ryder," board a New York City subway 6 train, then proceed to take control of the train. Meanwhile, MTA dispatcher, Walter Garber, is assigned to the Rail Control Center due to an ongoing investigation that he took a bribe to recommend a Japanese car manufacturer for the next subway car contract. The group then uncouple the front car from the rest of the train and hold the passengers of that car hostage. Ryder and the hijackers settle down on the front car, demanding $10 million dollars in ransom money to be paid within the next 60 minutes. For each minute past the deadline, one passenger aboard his car will be killed. Garber and Ryder exchange conversations though the microphone, Garber agrees to have the city pay Ryder the $10 million ransom. Lt. Camonetti enters RCC, and Garber's boss, who has a rocky relationship with Garber, orders Garber to leave the premises. Camonetti takes over the hostage negotiations, infuriating Ryder who demands that Garber be put back on the mic and that he will speak only to Garber. Beginning a very award friendship as the clock ticks down to get the money for the hostages.

Over all I would recommend this for a matinée show or just a rental, it's nothing I would say to rush out and see. It's still a decent enough movie that I'm shocked John Travolta actually made a good choice in taking. He's a great villain when he wants to be and he proved that in Face/Off. Denzel also did a great job as this poor man who just coincidentally was having an average day and now all of a sudden has the added pressure of having lives depend on him. But like I said there are some major flaws that came with this film as well, there were unnecessary moments like what was with the kid and his computer? It had nothing really to do with the story and wasn't that vital. The nice army black man that jumped in front of the gun to protect the kid, the kid's mother talks to him before, but turned out to be unnecessary. Still as silly as these flaws are, it's still a fun movie to watch, I'm glad I checked it out.

6/10

This thriller has it all. A great plot that moves well, continuous action, well developed characters and great suspense.It does a good job of getting you to think, as you attempt to discern just who is really a good guy and who is not.This well thought out movie keeps you guessing what the train robbers will do next and exactly why they are really involved in this crime. A great watch for most all ages.

I love Denzel Washington and occassion John Travolta depemdig on he movie but I must say I was both excited and disappointed in this film. I really expcted something a whle lot better even though the film was good the ending to me was the worst part of this entire film.

In The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, New York City subway dispatcher, Walter Garber's, day is thrown into chaos by an audacious crime: the hijacking of a subway train. Ryder, the criminal mastermind who, as leader of a highly-armed gang of four, threatens to execute the train’s passengers unless a large ransom is paid within one hour. As the tension mounts beneath his feet, Garber employs his vast knowledge of the subway system in a battle to outwit Ryder and save the hostages. But there’s one riddle Garber can't solve: even if the thieves get the money, how can they possibly escape?