The Red and Black

Issue date: 6/16/09 Section: Variety

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In a summer filled with Mutants, Vulcans, and giant-transforming-robots from outer space, The Taking of Pelham 123, a heist movie involving a subway train, may seem doomed to obscurity (especially since the train does not transform into a giant fighting robot with laser canons).

Many people may have seen trailer for this Tony Scott helmed remake of the 1973 original (starring Walter Matthau) and dismissed it as a generic summer thriller that wrote a nice big check for two big name actors in order to draw in profit to a run-of-the-mill action-thriller. It is an assumption such as this that lead me to almost missing out on the smartest thing movie Tony Scott directed since "Enemy of the State" (1998).

Without spoiling anything, the plot starts out simple enough. A tattooed, hardcore, foulmouthed handlebar-mustache sporting Ryder (John Travolta) hijacks a New York subway train taking over a dozen hostages with him, and demands $10 million. It just so happens, however, the unlucky bastard on the other end of the train radio when Travolta is making these demands is recently demoted/disgraced train-dispatcher Walter Garbe (Denzel Washington). Garbe quickly becomes hostage negotiator, trying desperately to keep the hostages alive.

I was expecting the usual cornucopia of gunfights, over the top explosions, quick-jarring camera work, and car crashes so gratuitous they could be called pornographic (according to a giant-transforming-robot I know). But save the jarring camera work, these usual staples of Tony Scott movie take up a surprisingly small chunk The Taking of Pelham 123, instead, what the viewers are privy to is a movie in which two A-list leading men talk to each other on walky-talkies for a large majority of the movie, and, for the most, it is damned entertaining.

I say "for the most part," because Denzel Washington, despite his obvious acting abilities, was unbelievable as his character.

Washington's character, Walter Garbe is supposed to be a demoralized, disgraced, and all around schlep of a guy (there is even a line in the movie where Washington makes a self-effacing joke about him being overweight). The only problem is, that Denzel Washington, as an actor, commands so much intensity, self-confidence, and respect it is difficult for the viewer to believe him as a "Joe-every-man" type of character.

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