Taking of Pelham 123

Dear Mr. Tony Scott,

You are actually a pretty decent film maker. I've pretty much enjoyed every movie you have made in some fashion. Hell I think I like more of your movies than I do of your brother Ridley's but he, sir, made Alien while you made Days of Thunder so unfortunately for you, he's still ahead. But that is neither here nor there. What pray gods, is your obsession with time stamps? Seriously I'm fairly sure this is the third or fourth movie I have seen where you stamp up on the screen some numbers to let us know how much time is left until a specific situation.

Guess what? It is completely unnecessary. Especially when your main villain is so crazy that he frequently SAYS how long the good guys have. We don't need a time stamp just like we don't need an establishing shot of say the Eiffel Tower and a text on screen confirming Paris. You see how the establishing shot already gives us that kind of information? Its superfluous. And it really annoys me personally. Oh, really? There are 42 minutes left before the deadline? Right because John Travolta just said there were 42 minutes left before the deadline. Thanks for confirming what a character already said. Has it gotten to the point that you the film maker think that we are all so ADD that we don't even listen to the characters? And if it has, does flashing the time stamp do anything? We are probably so ADD we aren't reading it.

Point 2 (sorry dear reader, this will only take a moment): Mr. Scott, I'd like to propose a little quiz. Not hard, I assure you. What makes a thriller interesting? a) compelling well developed characters verbally sparring while the secrets of the film are slowly revealed or b) lots of fast moving cars, car crashes and explosions? or c) some strange unfathomable combination of the two? If I had to guess on this film, I'd say you think its c). And when one of your characters acknowledges that the scene in question is silly only makes the scene more absurd, it doesn't justify it.

Sincerely,

Movie Idiot.

Dear Reader,

I apologize for the above, its just I had to get those things off my chest. And at this point you are probably thinking that I hated Taking of Pelham 123 and truthfully, you would be wrong. I actually enjoyed it. Aside from the annoying time stamping and the completely gratuitous action sequence, I actually really enjoyed it. Let me attempt to give a satisfactory explanation as to why.

On an afternoon in New York, a group of men hijack a subway train and get in contact with a central rail control operator. They tell him they want ten million dollars in one hour or they start killing hostages. They gang is led by Ryder (John Travolta). He's tattooed and a little crazy. Its over the top but it works. The rail control operator is Denzel Washington. Preternaturally cool even in a hostage negotiation, I'm thinking if I were a hostage taker I would never want Denzel on the other side of the line. It just wouldn't be fair.

When the film is focused on these two and their conversations, I must say its quite engrossing. And was unfortunately occasionally mucked up by inter-cut unnecessary action sequences involving the money payout and a police escort. Ahhh, sorry, it still bugs me. Both are interestingly developed, Ryder maybe a bit less so but Travolta's unrestrained performance make up for it.

Ancillary characters make for interesting completion of the cast. John Turturro as a police negotiator adds a nice element to the conversations as he tries to aid Denzel on the radio. And James Gandolfini as a Michael Bloomberg-esque mayor of New York is a pleasant part of the mix.

Even the inevitable showdown between Travolta and Washington is for the most part decently done. No silly fight scene or overdrawn chase sequence. Quite a bit of the film plays out exactly as the characters predict and both sides of the affair clearly come off as smart. Not a perfect movie even if you subtracted the irritating things I mentioned above but an enjoyable one through and through thanks to a decent story and well acted interaction between Travolta and Washington.