In 1973 Morton Freedgood released the bestselling novel The Taking of Pelham 123, which would be adapted into a feature film the following year, remade into a TV movie in 1998 and picked up, remade and released by director Tony Scott a decade later, for a more modern, post 9-11 audience.
The story is essentially the same, albeit updated to accommodate new technologies, new procedures, and a different political climate to that of 35 years ago, and follows Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) on what will most likely be his toughest shift as a train dispatcher. A shift made that way by one man, Ryder (John Travolta), and his three accomplices, who hijack a passenger train (designated Pelham 123, hence the film’s title) at gunpoint, park it in a long subway tunnel, and promptly demand $10 million within the hour, or claim that they will start killing passengers.
Needless to say this doesn’t go down too well with the MTA staff, or the NYPD, who immediately begin trying to find out exactly who the gunmen are, why they are doing what they are doing, and how they can get the passengers out alive; the most obvious ways being to give the gunmen the ransom money, and not to anger them (something easier said than done with a hot-headed, trigger happy, thug like Ryder on the other end of the microphone).
The majority of the film is then a back and forth exchange between Garber and Ryder, as each tries to learn a little more about the other, and manoeuvre the situation in a direction that they are happy with, whilst the Mayor (James Gandolfini) clears the ransom money and attempts to have it escorted across Manhattan and towards the subway on time.
Despite the basic, two location, setting and potential for boredom, Pelham actually manages to stay quite engaging by slowly revealing different aspects of the main characters and creating interesting and involving exchanges between Garber and Ryder which often lead to some difficult choices, and personal revelations. There is also a fair scope for situation changes, as the police attempt to take over negotiations, prepare to storm the tunnel and transport the money, all blending together and actually managing to create a fairly fast paced and suspenseful thriller.
Character wise, there aren’t really that many, as the film is basically reduced to a back and forth between Garber and Ryder, with supporting cast members being of little consequence to the story; all of the police and other gunmen are basically ignored, barely getting any lines (except for one detective), and the only other note worthy character is the rather self-absorbed, yet thoroughly intriguing, Mayor of New York; as everyone else (including Ryder) is a pure and unadulterated cliché, being an obvious stereotype through and through.
The Mayor is possibly the most interesting character in the entire movie (which should not be the case seen as how screen time is almost solely awarded to the two main characters), having a great deal of back-story hinted at but never fully explained, making him also the most well rounded character in the film, and a character that is excellently played with a realistically cowardly and bureaucratic persona by James Gandolfini.
Denzel Washington, who always delivers strong performances, also does a solid job of portraying Walter Garber, despite the character being far from his most challenging. John Travolta’s portrayal of the sadistic Ryder is reminiscent of his 90’s action roles in films like Face/Off and Broken Arrow, being both entertaining and callous, although the script fails him somewhat as he is forced to curse several times during every sentence he has, and it is never made clear whether or not he is a character who should be hated or sympathized with.
Overall Pelham was a pretty decent thriller, which managed to basically keep a two way conversation interesting for over an hour and a half; the plot’s pretty simple and not all that original (that’s to be expected with a remake of a film that’s over 30 years old), with the modern updates (including a webcam and talk of terrorism) doing little to forward the story, however there are some solid performances on show from a stellar cast, and the fast paced action never grows dull or tiresome, despite the slightly weak script.
Picture:
Pelham 123 has been given a glorious 1080p transfer that looks surprisingly good; it has an intentionally grainy look, but manages to keep a superbly high level of detail and clarity, with facial imperfections, cloth fibres, grey hairs and all other glaringly natural detail plainly obvious. Colours are bold and vibrant, contrasting strongly with the many vivid and deep blacks that so often cover the majority of the screen and there isn’t a single clearly visible print error, all making for a brilliant transfer.
Audio:
Pelham has been graced with a DTS HD MA 5.1 surround sound mix, that is every bit as good as the picture, in terms of quality. Bass is deep and powerful, excellently enhancing the hip-hop soundtrack and the force of the moving train as well as giving gunshots an extra sense of presence. Rear channels are used extremely well, both during the few action scenes and also during the quieter scenes where an array of subtly background noises are present, and feel so real that they almost go unnoticed.
Levelling is never an issue as Pelham’s soundtrack is perfectly balanced, with dialogue being well placed, consistently clear, and never overpowered by the multitude of background noises. However with the film being mainly dialogue based Pelham’s won’t be the first soundtrack of choice to show off anyone’s sound system, but for the film, it works just about as well as it possibly could.
Extras:
The extras included with the Blu-ray release of Pelham 123 contain nothing extraordinary, being complied of entirely standard material seen on practically all modern releases.
There are two audio commentaries which both discuss the differences between the 2009 film and the 70’s version, working with New York Transit personnel and other behind the scenes information. Both commentaries are fairly standard, being neither overly funny, informative, or especially interesting, and as they essentially cover the same material there was really no reason two include two of them.
The 30 minute making of featurette however is worth the watch as it covers practically all of the information included in the commentaries but is somehow infinitely more interesting. It covers information such as how the proposed remake developed over time, the cast and their characters, and the difficulties with filming in the New York subway system and is an informative and well made feature that will be much more appealing to most viewers than the commentaries.
Also included is a 16 minute featurette on the subject of subway systems, and discussing the safety training course that all members of the cast and crew had to take in order to film in the tunnels, and a 5 minute short discussing hairstyles within the movie, which is not only an odd inclusion, but like the subway feature, an utter waste.
Overall a fairly dull mix of special features which will do little to entertain viewers and simply serve to fluff up the disc as the only real worthwhile feature is the half-hour making of documentary.
The Bottom Line:
All in all The Taking of Pelham 123 was a surprisingly good film; yes it had its problems (slightly weak script and only really having two characters for the entire movie) but it was engaging, tense and suspenseful and filled with strong performances given by a strong cast. It’s definitely not the most memorable thriller, and fans of the 1974 version may not be happy with the latest adaptation as it somehow lacks the impact of the original, but it is still worth catching as it’s exciting, interesting and easy to watch.
While the picture and sound quality may not be the highest available they are still top notch, and beaten by very few releases. The extras aren’t all that useful or interesting, but the making of feature is certainly worth a look and that doesn’t change the fact that Tony Scott has successfully updated a classic and turned it into a modern thriller that is sure to please many viewers. Maybe worth a rent rather than a purchase, Pelham is a decent attempt at a thriller, and one that all fans of the original should take a look at, but not all that memorable.
