This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Pretty Good

From my favorite movies..

A Masterpiece!

This is a remake of an older film made in the 1070s and judging by other reviews- an improvement. It is an intense ride and both Denzel Washington and John Travolta shine. The late Tony Scott excelled in making certain types of films and this is the kind of film that he was happiest making, as opposed to elder brother Ridley who tends to choose more cerebral fare. Taking of Pelham 123 is a ride you don't wanna miss. Go see it.

When the director is Tony Scott, you strap in ready to go for a ride. Sadly this film is limited in scope, and doesn't go anywhere worthwhile. Enemy of the State was a great Tony Scott film. Pelham 123 is a thousand times worse. The premise is too simple. There's nothing clever about any of the characters. No plot twists, nothing to think about, and no satisfaction by the end. The bad guy played by Travolta, tries hard to give purpose to his murderous psycho plot, but it doesn't work. The writers struggle to bring anything worthwhile to the screenplay or dialog. No doubt the original book this is based on, is nothing special. The visuals try to make up for the void in the plot, with constant irritating jump cuts and over-saturated "video" effects. This stylistic treatment is overdone. Tony Scott has always used some degree of visual decoration, but this takes it too far. It starts okay, but by the time we reach the halfway point, things have descended into mediocrity and never recover. Just like with Pay Back, the studio should have intervened and re-wrote the second half, saving it from the train wreck which is Pelham 123.

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 is Tony Scott's flashy and expensive remake of a stone-cold classic of 1970s cinema. The original had Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw as hero and villain respectively, while this remake sees Scott regular Denzel Washington and bad-guy-for-hire John Travolta stepping into those lofty shoes. And, unsurprisingly enough, this turns out to be a redundant remake that can't hope to better - or, indeed, even come close - to the quality of the original.I'm not a hater of remakes per se. Occasionally certain films will be flawed or dated and the remake works better than the original; I found this with THE HILLS HAVE EYES. However, the original PELHAM is a great film and anyone who's seen it will end up just watching this version and criticising it by comparison. I'm sure if the original didn't exist I would have enjoyed the updated PELHAM a lot more, but as it stands it's a waste of time.It's not all bad. Washington is the slick master of professionalism as always and never disappoints this viewer. Travolta gives another fun villainous turn, following on from FACE/OFF and BROKEN ARROW. Scott certainly knows how to make a fast-paced movie and this is a thriller that's never dull. But compared to the original, it's vapid, shallow, and way too superficial.

I was looking forward to this movie for a very long time now and I must say that it was a bit disappointing. The story line is very predictable. One could tell from the beginning that Walter Garber will be the big great hero at the end of the movie. Ryder's character starts to develop in the beginning in the right direction and makes you curious about his reasons for doing what he was doing. It leaves the impression that maybe something personal and emotional, a wrong doing or an injustice has led him to respond in this wrong way. But, in the end the character development takes a complete disappointing turn. Ryder was doing all this because of money. So, overall the very end of the movie can be anticipated. Even the fact that Ryder's plan A will fail and a plan B is needed, is also what one would expect from movies like this. In terms of the message that the movie was trying to convey, I must say that all it got to me was that in the end the bad boys always lose.