The Taking of Pelham 123 2009

The Taking of Pelham 123 2009
Director: Tony Scott
Writer: Brian Hegeland
Starring Denzel Washington, John Travolta, Luis Guzman, Victor Gojcaj, John Turturro, James Gandolfini and Michael Rispoli

Tony Scott is one of the best modern action film directors today, so whenever he has a new film I always see it. I had heard of the original version of this film but had never seen it. I will definitely seek it out after seeing this version. This was a solid action film with some very tense scenes in it and a great interplay between Washington and Travolta. I always have liked Travolta more when he plays the heavy, such as his great performances in John Woo's Face Off and Broken Arrow. This is a fast paced and expertly executed crime film and all the lead actors do an excellent job. The only fault I have with the film is that it doesn't bring anything new or exciting to the action film genre. But it is still a enjoyable and gripping film to watch.
The plot basics are this, four amred men hijack a subway train one afternoon in Manhattan. They stop and decouple the first car and then begin their plan too blackmail money out of the city by holding the people on the train hostage. The leader of the terrorists is Ryder (Travolta) and he gets in contact with dispatcher, Walter Garber (Washington), who has been recently demoted due to being investigated for taking a bribe. He makes aconnection with Ryder and he refuses to deal with anyone but Garber. Ryder demands ten million within a hour or for every minute the payoff is late he will eliminate a hostage. The Mayor (Gandolfini) okays the deal, but it seems the payoff is putting the stock market through the wringer and the negotiator in charge (Turturro) is wondering if Ryder only wants the money or is making a stock broking gambit with it too make himself obscenely rich. As the time limit comes and goes Garber has to meet Ryder with the money and what follows is a tense face off and a game of cat and mouse, and who knows who will come out on top in this gambit?
This is a good film. Scott's direction is great as always. His style of fast cutting and quick edits is not for everyone, but I always enjoys what he does with the camera. The film is violent too and never skirts away from showing it. The way he sets up the SWAT sniper's attacks is tense and when everything goes wrong it comes together perfectly. Hegeland's script is tightly woven and he really breathes life into both Ryder and Garber's characters. The cast is good too, Washington and Travolta have great chemistry together and as usual Travolta hams it up and it suits the film well. Turturro is also good as the negotiator trying to get to the bottom of what is happening here. I also really enjoyed Gandolfini as the mayor, he brought a much needed comedic element to the film and with all the tense face offs in the film it is much needed for the viewer to catch his breath from time to time. The action sequences in the film are very good, I especially liked the sniper attack, that was the most memorable one in my book. This was a tense and exciting film, but in my final estimation it does not add anything great to this type of crime film. I think the thing that makes this film the most enjoyable was Travolta's performance.
This one gets 3 out of 5