Box Office Review - The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Tony Scott is a great director. His style has had a major influence on action movies throughout the 90s and 00s. When I look at his filmography I see many past hours of repeat viewings. The Taking of Pelham 123 is another solid film by Scott. I was surprised at how little action actually takes place in the movie, but that wasn’t a bad thing as we have Denzel Washington and John Travolta having great conversations. I always enjoy it when a film allows its actors the time to have real conversations and here it works very well. Travolta does an amazing job as the irrational lunatic train robber. He is at his best when he is playing the bad guy (Face/Off, Broken Arrow) or a guy who does bad things (Pulp Fiction, Get Shorty). His character in Pelham is very interesting, and the way that he reveals the faults of Washington’s character was well done. The fact that Washington is not a squeaky clean character adds an interesting dynamic to the film. Travolta’s character finds a commonality between them and he becomes fixated on it. The film relies heavily on the actors and it brings together a decent supporting cast. James Gandolfini plays the Mayor of NYC, John Turturro is a hostage negotiator, and everyone’s favourite character actor Luis Guzman is one of Travolta’s henchmen. As for the action as I said before there isn’t very much. A few people get shot a bunch of times and there is a good car crash and that is about all. The film is able to create a lot of tension through the conversations between Washington and Travolta. This goes on the list with the rest of Scott’s movies as films that I will repeatedly view.

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