Short Review: Ryder is a bad guy with a soul. Walter is a hero who need redemption. We’re an audience in need of some entertainment.



Like Assault on Precinct 37 or The Italian Job, this a remake that was done for no apparent reason. The original is hardly a classic and this reworking doesn't shine as well. Are we wallowing so deep in post-modern muck that we need to recreate mediocrity?

John Travolta and Denzel Washington spend time in this rehash of the 70’s flick about the hijacking of a New York subway. Ryder (Travolta) and his crew of highly expendable thugs jump Pelham 123, a subway car. Walter (Washington) is a dispatcher with a troubled past.

When the cops show, Ryder insists on only negotiating with Walter. This sets up a long series of hostage phone conversations which are just like every other series of hostage phone conversations we’ve seen in film for forty years.

Director Tony Scott employs his usual sharp edged stylization in an attempt to mask his hollow script. Neither Travolta nor Washington have much to do since their character don’t have notable arcs. They yap and yap as they wait for the next plot point to arrive.

In order to make the final confrontation happen the plot has to discard any logic and/or acknowledgment of police procedure. All of the narrative acrobatics leads to a resolution that is dissatisfying and when considered, pretty darn distasteful.




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Man on Fire (2004)
American Gangster (2007)


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Labels: Denzel Washington, film, John Travolta, movie review, remake