Taking of Pelham 123 (remake) Review

I ended up seeing the original film from about thirty to forty years ago on TV a couple of weeks before I saw this movie. I actually ended up wondering at the end if the remake would do much better. Well, actually it pulled it off almost beautifully. 

The plot revolves around a team of criminals who hijack a New York Subway and hold a group of innocent hostages for ransom. They're led by the character of Ryder, played by John Travolta, and are forced to deal with Transit Operator Walter Garber, played by Denzel Washington. Really, the filmmakers picked the right time to remake this movie. With the evolution of technology not only in the subway systems but of the average person, it truly expands the original material into something too grand to be reduced to its former state. 

First complaint, well let's look at the beginning. WHAT BEGINNING? The main characters are practically thrown into the movie with no introductions. There is no build up to the story, it's just there from the start. On the other hand, the tension in this movie grows to great heights, especially in the hands of John Travolta. That being said, I come to my biggest complaint about the movie: the writing. 


John Travolta's character really steals the show, as if it was almost on purpose. By the end of the movie, you practically have the entire character figured out, as opposed to Denzel Washington or anyone else really. I did enjoy the "relationship" between Ryder and Garber throughout the movie, and thought that even though Denzel Washington and John Travolta weren't in the same room most of the time, they played off each other nicely. If you've ever seen the film John Q, it was almost a reversal of that hostage situation. 


Compared to the original film, everything seems connected and elaborates to something brilliant. New elements are brought in and the story is great. If hijacking a subway car was a normal felony, this would be no simple crime. But the writing does have its flaws. When it comes to certain scenes, the writing is just poor and some of the acting doesn't exactly bring it to life any better. In a scene where Denzel Washington's character is talking to his wife over the phone, the way that it was written and acted out was pretty poor. There are situations where the characters behave stupidly as opposed to how it should be realistically handled. 


As for the camera work, it does handle well in this movie, with a few exceptions. In scenes focusing on Denzel Washington, they REALLY focused on him. His entire head practically fills the screen in what seems to be over a quarter of his screen time and it gets way too repetive. It definetely expanded a lot on the original movie's structure, but it has it's flaws like every other movie.