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'Pelham' remake isn't the ticket

Columbia Pictures

John Travolta plays another bad guy, but he mostly manages to contain his usual hammy turns when playing villains.

By KEVIN WALKER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 11, 2009

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Young movie fans might find themselves getting an unsolicited history lesson this weekend from their elders, who will speak about the 1974 version of "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" in reverent tones and, in all likelihood, slam the remake.

Here's the thing: Listen up. They're right.

Not that this new version is bad. Denzel Washington does his usual solid work with the occasional burst of greatness. John Travolta, for the most part, manages to contain the hammy overacting he often brings to these villainous roles (see "Broken Arrow" or, ugh, "The Punisher").

Unfortunately, director Tony Scott ("Top Gun," "Crimson Tide") suffuses the entire movie with the unnecessary cuts, zooms and loud bursts of noise that are his stock in trade (not that he is alone with that, these days). It makes for many scenes that are more flashy and loud than they are interesting.

Sometimes it's enough to just show the helicopter lifting off and flying away without a lot of fancy camera movements or film treatment, you know?

Here's the good. Washington, as usual, is doing more with just his eyes than most of the other actors are doing with their whole bodies. He portrays Walter Garber, a former executive of the Metropolitan Transit Authority who is now working dispatch. The reason for his demotion makes for one of the best scenes in the movie, so it won't be revealed here.

Suffice it to say Garber has secrets, but he's hardly expecting what is about to happen to him. The villainous Ryder (Travolta), armed and crazy, takes over a subway train (it leaves Pelham at 1:23 p.m., hence the title) with three armed companions. It isn't long before one of them has killed a passenger.

Travolta promises to make it two, and then kill another passenger every minute, if $10 million isn't delivered to the train in one hour. This begins the best part of the movie: the verbal interplay between Ryder and Garber as they try to figure each other out.

John Turturro is a bit wasted as a hostage negotiator suspicious of why Ryder insists on speaking only with Garber. James Gandolfini is good as the mayor, although it's still difficult to see him without thinking of Tony Soprano (who was killed in the last episode, by the way. One man's opinion).

Things begin to break down, however, as Ryder plans his big escape and Travolta starts to redline on the screaming and posing meter. There are also some shenanigans with a video chat between one of the passengers and his girlfriend that is just plain silly. The climactic chase scene isn't much of a chase, and the final confrontation, which is supposed to be dark and charged with meaning, doesn't make a lot of sense given the circumstances leading up to it.

Still, the movie has its moments. But it's not going to make you forget Walter Matthau (and that horrible shirt and tie combo) or the great Robert Shaw anytime soon.

Find an older film fan. They'll tell you.

MOVIE REVIEW

"The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" **

MOVIE BOARD RATING: R; for violence and pervasive profanity

STARS: Denzel Washington, John Travolta, John Turturro, James Gandolfini,

DIRECTOR: Tony Scott

LOCATION: See movie times, Page 11, for local show times.

PLOT SUMMARY: A terrorist takes subway passengers hostage and will only negotiate with the dispatcher, a former transit authority executive accused of taking a bribe.

RUNNING TIME: 106 minutes

ON THE WEB: www.catchthetrain.com

The movies are rated on a scale from zero to four stars.