The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

[Dragonfire]

I decided to go see The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 the other day.  I've never seen the original, so I don't know for sure how it compares.  I do tend to like John Travolta and Denzil Washington, so I was interested in seeing the movie.

Walter is working as a dispatcher in the control center for the New York City subway.  He's been having some work issues, which is why he's working as a dispatcher when he should be higher up the chain of command.  That afternoon, four men, led by Ryder, take over a subway train.  Walter notices that something is wrong, though he isn't sure what until Ryder contacts Walter through the radio.  He wants 10 million dollars in one hour.  He will kill a hostage for every minute that the ransom is late.  Ryder will only talk to Walter, which does complicate things a bit more.  The mayor is told of the situation while plans are made to deal with it in a way that will prevent the hostages being killed.

The movie is ok, but it could have been much better.  There is only a tiny bit of mystery connected to who exactly Ryder is.  There aren't any major surprises though I was surprised by a few things that happened.  There is only a little bit of action, though there is some graphic violence in a few scenes.  Most of the characters are just filler without any development and there isn't even that much shared about Walter and Ryder.  Travolta goes a bit over the top at times, but it works for the character.  Washington is fine in the part.

Overall the movie is entertaining, but it isn't as good as it could have been.  It is just sort of so so.  I would have given it 2.5 stars at Epinions if I had the option.  Since I didn't, I rounded to 3.  I'll go with here.

I did get a review posted on Epinions if anyone would like to take a look.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

[Jimmy]

Isn't it sad when a good actor like Denzell Washington stars in another unecessary remake? I know he was in The Manchuriate Candidate but this is one of the few good remake, so it doesn't count

[Dragonfire]

The Manchurian Candidate was wonderful.  I'll have to watch that again sometime.

[Jon]

Which? Original or remake? I thought the new Manchurian was suprisingly good, but still didn't quite measure up.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is one of top five. I absolutely love it. Not because it is particularly magnificent in any one area (except the dialogue is superb and the ending is special too), but somehow it's one of the most watchable films I know. I could watch it right now, and then again tomorrow!

[Dragonfire]

Both actually.  I have both versions on DVD.
I actually found the original Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 on one of my movie channels a few nights ago.  It was about 20 or 30 minutes into the movie, but I was going to watch some anyway.  Then my stupid cable box decided to reset as soon as I flipped on that channel.  So there went that idea.