[Blu-Ray Review] THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123
Remakes. They’re a strange thing, really. Sometimes they can be something which results in a fresh take or perspective o a much loved classic. Sometimes they can be better than the original. And, more often than not, they just don’t manage to evoke the same feelings, atmosphere or brilliance of the original. Which, to be honest with you, is the reason that I don’t generally like remakes. Which brings us to Tony Scott’s 2009 remake of the classic thriller, The Taking of Pelham 123. Want to guess which category of remake it falls into?
The Plot
When tubetrain 123 to Pelham is highjacked underground, the on duty dispatcher, Walter Garber, suddenly finds himself the contact between Ryder, the leader of the highjackers, and the NYPD. Given an hour to deliver $10,000,000.01, with the penalty of one dead hostage every minute the money is late, it soon becomes a battle of wills between these two men as they are inexorably drawn towards the end of what has rapidly turned into a very long day.
The Review
Where do I begin? How about the complete lack of tension that Tony Scott manages to fill the movie with? Or the fact that the hostages, who I assume I’m meant to care live or die, make no impression at all? Or how about the hyperactive cuts and zooms, and stupid slow-motion background blurs that Tony Scott can’t seem to make a movie without doing?
And don’t get me started on the convoy sequence where the money is rushed from the Federal Reserve to the train!
Yes, there are many things that annoyed me with this remake of a movie I love. There is a total lack of tension or thrills, which is kind of an oversite in a movie that is meant to be a “thriller”, and none of the characters apart from Denzel Washington’s dispatcher & the mayor of New York, played by James Gandolfini, are fleshed out in any way at all. Even John Travolta’s Ryder is left pretty much a one note character who occasionallydrops a F-bomb. But at least, for the most part, he keeps the pantomine villainary under wraps! Mostly.
Denzel, on the other hand, plays the “everyman” character very well. He is, without a doubt, the best thing in this movie but it’s not exactly a stretch for him to play this role. Does that make his performance any less good? No, not at all, I just wish the rest of the movie was there to match him.
And how about that sequence where the NYPD are rushing across New York with the money? What the hell was that all about?? Crashes for no reason, as far as I could tell, as it didn’t add anything at all to the story. Nice way to show the NYPD as totally incompetant Tony Scott!
As for the editing, while it may have worked in other Tony Scott movies like Man On Fire, here I just found it downright annoying and distracting.
The whole thing feels cliched and as if we have seen it all before, which of course we have. Sometimes, that doesn’t matter but when what we are seeing is presented in such a mediocre way it does become a bit much.
The Video
Now, while the movie may disappoint, the high definition transfer certainly doesn’t! It is of an amazingly high quality throughout, with details standing out clear, even with all the darkness involved. Colours are slightly muted, but crisp and the black levels are stunning, especially in the underground scenes. As for the detail you can see on the actors faces, it truly is lifelike. Denzel Washington’s stubble, for instance, is so clear that you can almost reach out and shave it off for him! Yet another high definition power house from Sony Pictures.
The Audio
The lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that the Blu-Ray is packaged with certainly packs a punch! The bass rumble of the tube trains really give them a prescence in your room and while the surround speakers only really get a work out during the action sequences, the rears do add background effects during the train and control room sequences, creating a 360 degree world. But even with all of this going on the dialogue is never drowned out by the noises.
The Extras
Audio Commentary by Director Tony Scott: A fairly interesting commentary track where Scott talks about the similarities and differences between his version and the original, working with the cast and crew, developing the movie and working with the New York transit department. Pretty standard commentary stuff, really, but it does have it’s interesting moments.
Audio Commentary by Director Tony Scott, Writer Brian Helgeland and Producer Todd Black: Pretty much the same as the solo Tony Scott track, even with overlapping information, except for the addition of Brian Helgeland and Todd Black to proceedings.
No Time to Lose: The Making of Pelham 123: (HD, 30 minutes) A making of that, for once, dispenses with a lot of the “Oh he’s/she’s great to work with” interview segments and instead concentrates on creating the movie, the research that needed to be done, filming in the subways, the MTA’s involvement and much more. A very well put togeather featurette.
The Third Rail: New York Underground: (HD, 16 minutes) This focuses on the subway system, and the filming process needed. Quite interesting, if only to learn who failed the eight hour safety course the cast and crew had to take before being able to film in the subways.
Marketing Pelham: (HD, 7 minutes) Yeah, or put another way, 7 minutes of trailers for The Taking of Pelham, 123.
From the Top Down: Stylizing Character with Danny Moumdjian (SD, 5 minutes) If you are interested in the importance of hair styling in movies then this is for you. I’m not, so it was a waste of 5 minutes.
CineChat
MovieIQ
This isn’t a terrible movie but, even if it wasn’t open for comparisons to the original movie, it wouldn’t be seen as a particularly thrilling thriller. It may well be worth a rental or watching when it comes on TV but I really don’t think it’s an essential purchase, unfortunately. You’d be better off spending the money on getting the original and watching that instead.
As for scores, let me give you an explanation. If you’re only option is DVD then take a ‘corn off of the rating. That third ‘corn is for the high def transfer itself, not the movie.
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One Response to “[Blu-Ray Review] THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123”
You know what I did when this movie came out, I went and bought a copy of the original and watched that instead. Tony Scott and the style of filmmaking he’s adopted this past… well decade more or less, just didn’t look like it would fit with this type of story.
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