Film Reviews

The Taking of Pelham 123

• Rating:
• Director: Tony Scott
• Starring: Denzel Washington
• Details: US/106mins (15A)

It's amazing how bland a $100 million film can be nowadays. No amount of intrusive editing and loud, bouncing soundtrack can hide the fact that Tony Scott still managed to make a boring blockbuster. Going for tension instead of action, you have to wonder where all the money went if that was the case, as it's certainly not on screen. We may just find our answer looking at the weighty stars' bank balances. But given the quality of the source material, this should've been a far more entertaining popcorn chewer than what Scott has churned out here.
Based on the same book as the hugely entertaining 1970's Walter Matthau/Robert Shaw starrer, the story centres on a recently demoted employee of the New York subway system, who, as luck would have it, is working as a dispatcher when a nasty gang of ex-cons take over a train full of passengers. They want $10 million clams, and they want it yesterday; every minute past the hour deadline that the city fails to deliver the money will result in the slaying of a random passenger. As the clock ticks closer to the deadline, Washington's dispatcher must attempt to keep the situation from boiling over, as Travolta's sociopath plans a daring escape.
What Scott has crafted here is a film that has the shell of a decent summer action flick, but not the content to back it up. It's slickly shot, frantically edited and well acted; the director was just miscast. As with a lot of his productions, Scott directs the material like a rock video - everything is in your face and loud. But the script doesn't really have any set pieces of note, so he's nothing left to do other than over direct simple dialogue scenes. The Scott-helmed Crimson Tide is a prime example of a superbly handled thriller, that really does keep you on edge for the entire running time; Scott, although obviously capable of a stellar production, seems to have forgotten how to engage his audience since the underrated Man On Fire.
To be fair, a lot of the blame also needs to land at the door of screenwriter Helgeland, who fails to make either lead character worth watching. You don't care about Washington's put-upon Garber, while Travolta's bad guy is little more than a one note snarler with a chip on his shoulder. While both actors equip themselves admirably given the circumstances, it's not enough to make this worth watching. Overly familiar and lacklustre, it may distract for a couple of hours, but this is a missed opportunity for something more.

Review by Mike Sheridan