MOVIE REVIEW: THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123

ENGLISH - (18PL) - 23 July 2009 - Thriller
Distributor: Sony Pictures/MGM
Running time: about 106 mins.
Director: Tony Scott
Producers: Tony Scott, Todd Black, Jason Blumentahl, steve Tisch
Writers: David Koepp (screenplay); Morton Freedgood (novel)
Casts: Denzel Washington, John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Luis Guzman, John Turturro
Plot: Tony Scott directs this remake of the original 1974 "The Taking Of Pelham 123" where Subway train Pelham 1-2-3 becomes the focal point of an audacious terrorist attack. A transit cop (Denzel Washington) goes against a group of hijackers lead by Ryder (John Travolta), that take over a subway train in order to rake in a hefty ransom. The ransom must reach them within an hour or they'll start killing the hostages in the train.

THE VERDICT:

Green Tea Bern says:

Tony Scott has his own formula when it comes to action or thriller film. Who will ever doubt this maestro of such genre – with his previous productions including Déjà vu, Top Gun and crimson Tide. This one is no such exception of creativity display and cinematography uniqueness.

The Taking of Pelham 123 starts as a normal day for one train dispatcher, Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) whom recently demoted from VC of the New York Subways train management due to accusation of receiving bribes. However, his mayhem routine began when a group of thugs headed by a mysterious Ryder (John Travolta), take a particular coach of a train and held all passengers as hostage. With Garber on the other side of train intercom connection, they embark in a heat-tainted and intriguing conversation over the connection while clock is ticking towards the zero before one by one passenger is been killed.



The story, it is not as complex as the other Scott’s outing. The plot is simple and is easy to follow, merely a straight forward one. The story is also very centralized and focuses on a challenge for making the audience totally aware of the story - in which I think the movie did very well.

The movie offers several subtle performances which creates havoc and tense moments, particularly some good suspense that gives room for actors to explore the inner depth of the essence of the story. The suspense becomes more coherent when the audiences are keep reminded about the remaining time. With much simplicity, the story also evolves around a bit but still find it too much confined or minor stuffs.

The ensemble casts of two superstars – John Travolta and Denzel Washington prove to be a strong and energetic performance. Denzel's character is the calming effect while John's character engulf in rampage and maniac effects - both in opposite but yet still an engaging one. It's not difficult to say that John Travolta's performance is in fact very critical for this movie.

Overall, it is not that hard to engage and adjust to the seats while chewing some popcorn when watching this movie. It is not too over-rated nor too underwhelming. It is just enjoyable to see how both strong performance from both stars been used and maneuvered well into making one fine art thriller. Too bad, still not the best for this year.

THE RATINGS.....
CAST - 4.0 stars
STORY - 3.5 stars
CINEMATOGRAPHY - 3.5 stars
EFFECTS - 3.5 stars
an overall>> 3.5 stars
GreenTea-O-Meter: 14.6