Average Rating: 5.4/10
Reviews Counted: 213
Fresh: 108 | Rotten: 105
Despite a strong cast, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 suffers under the excesses of Tony Scott's frantic direction, and fails to measure up to the 1974 original.
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Critic Reviews: 38
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 18
Despite a strong cast, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 suffers under the excesses of Tony Scott's frantic direction, and fails to measure up to the 1974 original.
liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 617,031
A New York City subway dispatcher draws on his extensive knowledge of the subway system in order to outsmart a dangerous criminal mastermind who's hijacked a subway train in this remake of the 1974 thriller inspired by John Godey's best-selling book. Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) is drifting through his daily routine when he receives word that a heavily armed gang of four has hijacked a subway train and is holding all of the passengers hostage. Led by cunning master thief Ryder (John
Jun 12, 2009 Wide
Nov 3, 2009
$65.5M
Sony/Columbia Pictures
All Critics (214) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (109) | Rotten (106) | DVD (6)
Can a director be arrested for the attempted hijack of our emotions?
Washington demonstrates his really remarkable ability to make us forget he's a movie star and completely believe he's a flawed but noble civil servant.
I was really disappointed by this.
Whereas the original, directed by Joseph Sargent, was essentially a well-oiled B movie, the new incarnation, directed by Tony Scott, is bristling with high-tech gimcrackery and over-the-top camera flourishes.
Set in a nightmare New York City, the subway hostage thriller batters our nerves like a tom-tom.
The film does what a good hostage negotiator does: It distracts us from what's going wrong and pulls us into the story.
Thunderous, metallic, ominous, screeching sound effects add to the sensory perception that you're watching a megaton monster barreling toward a dramatic showdown.
Veteran directorial fireball-hurler Tony Scott (Deja Vu, Top Gun) messes it up, as usual.
This sort of thing by design devolves into two guys talking on a phone, which if it's got any chance of working requires strong actors to bring their characters to life. Which is probably where Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 succeeds best.
A valiant effort, but ultimately Pelham feels like little more than Washington's latest star vehicle, bound for Netflix after a short summer run.
The fourth (and least effective) collaboration between Denzel Washington and Tony Scott...
In the post 9-11 New York City, it's a patently ludicrous suggestion that four machine-gun toting, sinister looking individuals can walk freely about the most heavily-guarded subway system in the world.
When logic subsides, as alas it does, it is the sheer force of Washington's intensity and Travolta's élan that keeps the film on, ahem, track
All restless shots and relentless cuts, ticking clocks and roving maps, a stream of shouting and shooting and speed-ramping and slow-motion and little real excitement.
This is either bad writing, bad direction, bad acting or a combination of the three.
The movie might leave audiences feeling a lot like hostages themselves, at the hands of the director. Who seems to have a bit of a contact high with all the grating noise, grit and funk of runaway trains. Somebody needed to put the brakes on this guy too.
A high-octane, attention-deficit adventure as riveting as it is ridiculous upon closer inspection.
If the trademark Scott gloss serves as a superficial hook, his also-adept manner of building tension and suspense then keeps one interested.
It would be impossible to make a completely dull film of Godey's story, but Scott has succeeded in reducing it to an empty, mechanical spectacle.
Solid performances can't lift this picture above its own mediocrity, however. The plot is formulaic ... and the ending obvious.
Im not sure how good the original wsa but this was a different take on your normal terrorist/criminal hostage movie. Decent acting, ok action. It was what it was.
January 8, 2011Super Reviewer
I liked the original Taking of Pelham but I don't think it so good it didn't warrant a remake. That said, I'm not particularly fond of remakes but I was pleasantly surprised with this one. They certainly updated it and made the story a little more realistic in some ways but then again, they also messed up in many ways.
October 13, 2011Super Reviewer
| 35% | The Hangover Part II |
| 81% | Kung Fu Panda 2 |
| 44% | Cowboys & Aliens |
| 83% | Rise of the Planet of the Apes |
| 94% | Moneyball |
| 37% | In Time |
| 93% | Drive |
| 36% | The Thing |
| 7% | Dream House |
| 39% | The Big Year |
Adam Sandler's Candy Land
Woman in Black is Solid
Five new Marvelous pictures
Unconventional Superheroes