The Taking of Pelham 123

Directed by Tony Scott
Starring Denzel Washington, John Travolta and James Gandolfini

Plot
New York. A man calling himself Ryder (Travolta) leads a gang who hijack a subway train, hold the passengers hostage and demand a huge ransom from the city. Public transportation manager Walter Garber (Washington) handles the negotiations with the crooks.  As the tension mounts beneath his feet, Garber employs his vast knowledge of the subway system in a battle to outwit Ryder and save the hostages.

Review
Tony Scott\'s (Man on Fire) remake of the classic 1974 film sees him partnering again with Denzel Washington in their third film together.  Scott\'s usual frenetic action, cinematography and soundtrack blast this away from the cerebral original into an action driven set-piece film.

Washington once again coasts through this movie, seemingly weighed down by an importune backstory (he has been demoted due to a bribe scandal), seeming to repeat his roles in Man on Fire and Deja Vu - an unlikely hero that I struggle to care about.  Travolta on the other hand, is truly feral as Ryder - loose, angry and violent, he holds nothing back when shooting hostages. Again, his Wall Street background lets him down - I just can\'t see John Travolta/Ryder as the smooth, status and money driven type.  But I did enjoy his performance, walking just that side of pathological.

The action is centred down in the subway, although some great near misses, and a truly spectacular hit, liven proceedings above ground.  James Galdofini as the major, John Turturro as a police negotiator and Luis Guzman all support, but I can\'t help feeling that more attention should have been given to the script to flesh out all characters, and less to the action.

This is a formulaic remake, as most of them are these days, offering us nothing new, and not even producing the mastery of the original.