Monday, June 22, 2009

TAKING OF PELHAM 123

“The TAKING OF PELHAM 123” (Denzel Washington & John Travolta)

I’ve never seen the original, so I can’t comment on how this stacks up against it.
For the most part, I enjoyed this film; for the first 3/4ths of it I felt I was viewing John Travolta’s finest acting excursion ever. He does, unfortunately, ruin the accolades I was going to heap upon him by falling into a one-note character. If you go to see ‘Pelham 123’ after reading this, please count the number of times John’s character, Ryder, says ‘m-f-er’ – My guess would be about 2 dozen.
Denzel Washington does his usual outstanding job as Walter Garber, a long time transit employee who has been demoted to subway dispatcher while being suspected of taking a bribe. During most of the film, I was thinking Travolta is holding his own with Denzel and in some scenes was actually ‘out-acting’ him, but by films' end, this thought had dissipated & Denzel comes through as the clearly superior actor, even though there’s no logical reason to believe his character would do what Walter does. Washington brings depth to his characterization, while Travolta does not. Still, I was impressed with John for most of this – just disappointed with how he didn’t breathe any new life into the character as it reached its conclusion.
The set-up here starts off muddied, but clears up as the film progresses (As all good films should) but, without going into spoiling detail, of course, I was less than thrilled with the way it ended.
We see Denzel’s Walter sitting in a crowded control room, speaking into a microphone and telling subway drivers where and when to go. Interspersed with these ho-hum routine scenes is a group of ne’er-do-wells obviously carrying out some diabolical scheme as they board subway train 123. Travolta’s Ryder pulls a gun on the driver and orders him to open the door to his ‘cockpit’.
The thugs eventually separate the lead car from the rest of the train (with logical reason) and Walter Garber is the lucky dispatcher that gets to negotiate with the homicidal lunatic calling himself ‘Ryder’.
An excellent supporting role from John Turturro as the ‘professional’ police hostage negotiator who is humble enough to realize that Walter’s demeanor & rapport with Ryder are the best chances the hostages have for survival. And James Gandolfini as the mayor of New York City (Still playing a mobster, eh?) comes across as believable despite looking exactly like Tony Soprano.
My least favorite movie gimmick – the obligatory car chase scene – isn’t as annoying as usual in this because the police are rushing to pay off the $10 million ransom Ryder has demanded before he starts killing hostages. HOWEVER, (You knew that was coming, huh?) the fact that director Tony Scott just HAD to include a gnarly crash sequence had me shaking my head in dispair, while others in the theatre felt the need to ‘woo-hoo’ the sight of a squad car being demolished. Yeah, like we haven’t seen that 123 times before...
Overall, though, I liked it. Perhaps because it follows so closely on the heels of ‘Angels & Demons’ which became rather stupid & obvious, despite having a really good plot; instead of potential Popes being assassinated within a certain time frame, ‘Pelham 123’ puts innocent subway commuters’ lives at stake. And, of course, it follows the formula for added suspense by turning Walter into the ransom ‘delivery boy’ so he & Ryder can meet face-to-face. The problem I had with the finale is that Walter isn’t a cop, he’s a subway employee – a desk-job flunkie that doesn’t normally do what he’s being asked - & yet he turns into Dirty Harry out to take down the punks once he gets his hands on a ‘piece’. Still, Denzel made it work... somewhat.

2 comments:

dbm said...

I didn't have any problem with the movie. I also think this was Travolta's best acting in a LONG time. Good crime thriller.
It helps that the supporting cast was solid. And I don't remember a Denzel movie I didn't like. He's one of the few actors that can elevate average material.
You'll have to rent the original, it's kind of a hoot and it has a whole other kind of feel and tone to it because it's in the 70's obviously. But how can you go go wrong with Matthau and Shaw ?

Terry R said...

I've never thought of Walter Matthau as a serious actor, so I could see how you definitely could go wrong with Walter in a 'dramatic' role. Shaw, you're right, you can't go wrong with him in the cast.