{"id":2402,"date":"2011-02-27T21:36:46","date_gmt":"2011-02-28T02:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=2402"},"modified":"2011-02-27T21:36:46","modified_gmt":"2011-02-28T02:36:46","slug":"br-taking-of-pelham-1-2-3-the-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=2402","title":{"rendered":"BR: Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The (2009)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to: <\/strong>Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>T to U<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Film: Good \/ DVD Transfer: Excellent \/ DVD Extras: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label: Columbia \/ TriStar\u00a0\/ Region: All \/\u00a0Released: November 3, 2009<\/p>\n

Genre: Suspense \/ Caper<\/p>\n

Synopsis: A group of armed men led by a doughy John Travolta with bad hair dye hold subway passengers for hostage, while the city scrambles to meet the million dollar ransom payment in less than an hour.<\/p>\n

Special Features: Audio commentary #1: Director Tony Scott \/ Audio commentary #2: screenwriter Brian Helgeland and producer Todd Black \u2018 4 Featurettes: \u201cNo Time to Lose: The Making of Pelham 123 (30:22) + \u201cThe Third Rail: New York Underground\u201d (16:12) + \u201cMarketing Pelham\u201d (7:06) + \u201cFrom the Top Down: Stylizing Character\u201d (5:15) \/ CineChat \/ Digital Copy<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

Tony Scott\u2019s third film version of John Godey\u2019s novel is generally close to its basic story of a New York City subway train hijacked by thugs with an agenda for cash and a smooth escape, and the director\u2019s ADD visuals actually suit the story\u2019s tense situations of characters forced into desperate circumstances, but typical of his recent films, the zoom-ins, shaky cams, and multiple angle flips sometimes render a perfectly straightforward car chase into an incomprehensible mess.<\/p>\n

Much like Unstoppable<\/strong> (2010), however, Scott likes to smash real vehicles in real locations, so much of the action involves pure carnage inflicted on genuine trains, cars, and motorcycles. In Brian Helgeland\u2019s script, some of the character ages and background details have changed, but once the Pelham train is under siege, the story\u2019s major revisions kick in, assuring the film\u2019s two pricey stars converge in a lengthy chase through Manhattan, and a final (clich\u00e9d) confrontation.<\/p>\n

MAJOR SPOILERS<\/p>\n

The thugs\u2019 ringleader, Ryder (John Travolta), is now a convicted investment broker who stages the chaos to affect the stock market and create a massive windfall within a matter of hours \u2013 a bit rich for audiences to absorb \u2013 and the disgraced, aging motorman (Ramos) who concocted the ransom scheme is now reduced to a throwaway character who dies a third into the film.<\/p>\n

By killing off Ramos (a wan role for able Luis Guzman), the focus becomes firmly locked on Ryder and his effort to flee the scene with the ransom delivery with his unmemorable accomplices, but the death of Ramos \u2013 a partially sympathetic character in the 1974 film – \u00a0also robs the filmmakers of recreating the same quiet twist finale. That mandates turning chief dispatcher Garber (Denzel Washington) into a more pro-active hero who eventually confronts Ryder after contrived chase involving trains, cars, and running across a bridge.<\/p>\n

As Ryder, Travolta\u2019s fine, but the character feels wrong for the film because we\u2019re supposed to accept the former investment broker as a fatter, angrier brute, affected by nine years in jail (hence the neck tattoo). Travolta\u2019s Ryder, however, is a bit more humane than Robert Shaw\u2019s 1974 interpretation \u2013 an icy, greedy organizer (self-titled \u201cMr. Blue\u201d) at ease with hostage executions.<\/p>\n

Washington does his humble working man thing, and he plays Garber as another fair-minded, decent man dragged into an ugly situation but kept sane because of his streetwise attitude, and fast-thinking from decades of being on the job.<\/p>\n

None of the hostages are memorable, and the patient transit cop from the first film has been morphed into a black youth who volunteers to take the place of a mother slated for execution.<\/p>\n

The thugs, in turn, have been further distilled into menacing mugs with little dialogue amongst each other, eliminates Helgeland\u2019s need to dramatize internecine conflicts that brewed amongst the characters in the 1974 film. That scripting decision streamlines the main opponents and gives the two stars wiggle room for extra scenes to expound on their corrupted pasts: Ryder is a disgraced and convicted suit, and Garber is currently under investigation for accepting a fat bribe; it\u2019s another new character tweak meant to create some symmetry and common experiences between the characters, but a far easier chore than writing characters who periodically try to find common ground in spite of disparate life experiences (which is what Helgeland should\u2019ve done).<\/p>\n

END OF MAJOR SPOILERS<\/p>\n

To accommodate these new modifications, Helgeland junked the conflicts between the hostages and the thugs and opted for a familiar playbook, but the trade-off was a loss of minor threats and danger situations that allowed audiences to weigh their own possibilities of a peaceful outcome. As it stands, the 2009 version is just another slick thriller that purports to explore the dilemmas of working stiffs getting through another day in a tough town.<\/p>\n

James Gandolfini\u2019s Mayor is the only vestige of the original film\u2019s overall tone of people having a really<\/em> bad day, spouting acidic insults at any humanoid form; the snarling repartee from Peter Stone\u2019s script is barely present because Helgeland\u2019s chose to isolate and pack all the anger and rage into Ryder, giving him full bandwidth to rant and spew profanity – but it\u2019s a decision that also makes Ryder rather predictable.<\/p>\n

Although set underground, Tony Scott\u2019s production weirdly maintains a balance of elegance and stylish grubbiness, boasting beautiful pastel lighting and colour schemes; the original film was much more docu-drama in feel, whereas the 1998 TV movie was re-rendered with desaturated, metallic colours.<\/p>\n

Harry Gregson-Williams\u2019 score is his familiar blend of electronics, bass, and fuzzy percussion, and after scoring several films for Scott, he knows what sonic combinations support the director\u2019s kinetic \/ chaotic filmmaking style without swaying into the bombast and melodrama of mentor Hans Zimmer. Gregson-Williams tends to focus on abstract and visceral sounds, and he saves any warm harmonies for the finale, when good working man Garber heads home to his wife with the promised a half-gallon of milk.<\/p>\n

For subway enthusiasts, the location work is generally superb, and Scott\u2019s production made use of some underused sections of the NYC transit tunnels, including the Transit Museum<\/a>, and Roosevelt spur<\/a> (see pics<\/a>) that\u2019s still used by major officials and diplomats to enter and leave the Waldorf Astoria hotel through a hidden station.<\/p>\n

Sony\u2019s Blu-ray comes loaded with multiple commentary tracks and making-of extras, and the only qualms are the slow loading times for the annoying BD-live material, and the batch of trailers and promos that can\u2019t be bypassed, wasting the viewer\u2019s time.<\/p>\n

Equally frustrating is the label\u2019s standard practice of multiple no-copying, FBI, and don\u2019t-sue-us-because-we-said-something-in-the-commentary disclaimers in English and<\/em> French that precede the film. Sony\u2019s been using this paranoid disclaimer package for about 10 years on their DVDs, and it\u2019s childish.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2011 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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Related links:<\/em><\/p>\n

DVD \/ Film: \u00a0Taking of Pelham One Two Three, The<\/a><\/strong> (1974) — Unstoppable <\/a><\/strong>(2010)<\/p>\n

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External References<\/em>:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Official Website<\/a> — Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Buy from:<\/em><\/p>\n

Amazon.com<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0The Taking of Pelham 123 [Blu-ray] [2009]<\/a><\/p>\n

Amazon.ca<\/strong> –\u00a0The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009) [Blu-ray]<\/a><\/p>\n

Amazon.co.uk <\/strong> –\u00a0The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 [Blu-ray]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> <\/em><\/em><\/em>\/\u00a0T to U<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to: Home \/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews \/ T to U . Film: Good \/ DVD Transfer: Excellent \/ DVD Extras: Excellent Label: Columbia \/ TriStar\u00a0\/ Region: All \/\u00a0Released: November 3, 2009 Genre: Suspense \/ Caper Synopsis: A group of armed men led by a doughy John Travolta with bad hair dye hold subway passengers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-CK","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2402"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2413,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402\/revisions\/2413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}