Taking of Pelham 123


	HOME-----FILMS-----TICKETS------PICTURES & VIDEO------SUBMISSIONS------ABOUT FRIGHTFEST------CONTACT-----LINKS-----FRIGHTFEST FORUM

The UK's Leading fantasy & horror film festival.

The Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, London 27th to 31st August 2009

It's so good it's scary - The Guardian

The premiere event of the year for horror fans - Time Out

Directed by Tony Scott. Starring Denzel Washington, John Travolta, James Gandolfini, John Turturro, Luis Guzman, Michael Rispoli. Action/Adventure, USA, 140 min. Web Site.

Director Joseph Sargent’s original PELHAM ONE TWO THREE was a great action caper, a terrific example of mid-Seventies Hollywood expertise capturing New York City on the cusp of becoming the sleaze capital of the Disco world.

Now more famous for inspiring Quentin Tarantino to copy its Mr. Blue, Grey, Green and Brown colour coded villains in RESERVOIR DOGS, the Walter Matthau/Robert Shaw starrer was a well-oiled B movie ride based on John Godey’s chilling novel. Back then there could have been nothing worse than a grimy subway train hi-jacking. Well, other than a certain DEATH WISH vigilante. But in these post 9/11 times such a contained threat seems small potatoes. Even in the Disney-fied landscape the Big Apple has become. So Tony Scott’s remake has much to amplify above being another bog-standard CSI: NEW YORK episode. So like Scott’s ENEMY OF THE STATE, his 1 2 3 is heavily biased towards the tech side of assembly-line thriller-dom, A.D.D. edited to within an inch of its fast-paced life and so stylishly over-the-top it actually ruins the runaway train finale. All suspense is dissipated in the staccato music video cutting, freeze-framing, speed-shifting and subsequent jerky action even as the main plot still exerts its tight grip. That’s still very much kept intact with fat-padded Denzel Washington starring as bribery-court-case pending demoted NYC subway dispatcher Walter Garber, whose ordinary day at the computer maps is thrown into chaos by the audacious hijacking of a subway train. Wall Street ex-con financial genius Ryder (John Travolta) is the criminal mastermind who, as leader of a highly armed gang of four, threatens to execute the train’s passengers unless a $10 million ransom is paid within one hour. As the tension mounts beneath his feet, and Mayor James Gandolfini arrives to impotently survey the hostage negotiations, Garber employs his vast knowledge of the subway system in a battle to outwit Ryder the and stop the murders. Slick, predictable (the desperate attempts to get the money delivered on time resulting in grafted-on car-crash lunacy) but diverting enough, the main entertainment focus is on the kindred interplay between Washington and Travolta as both try to derail the other’s confidence. Perhaps the best scene is Ryder forcing Garber to admit to his bribery offence in order to save a hostage being shot at point blank range.

Little is done with the layered on laptop webcam sub-plot though aside from providing failed humour. Hyperactive flash with little substance this 1 2 3 may be yet Scott’s gimmick express trip does deliver some dizzying entertainment value.

Alan Jones

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 2009

***