It’s hard for this reviewer to believe that anyone associated with the creation of The Taking of Pelham 123 would have been happy with the end result. The film is a thrill-less thriller with a $100 million budget. The first minute or two of Tony Scott’s remake had the quick cuts and shaky camera that is his style (see Man on Fire, Domino) and a small inkling of what an intense movie could feel like. However, over the next 100 minutes there was little to separate the film from a high school production created on a budget of $20.
Travolta does his normal bad guy thing (Face-Off, Broken Arrow) to an underwhelming note. Washington, the one and only “plus” of the film, does his part but his hero character isn’t given the range or scenes to pump any blood into the role. The original, starring Walter Mathau and Robert Shaw, couldn't possibly have been this bland.
Once Travolta’s Ryder character had taken control of the train, I kept waiting to care about the scenarios developing on screen. I wanted to route against him or feel for the captives but everyone was just too level. The film never sold me.
I honestly was dying to see what the twist was going to be. What character had been hiding a deep seeded secret and was going to flip the story on its head in a barrage of gun fire and lies... but nothing. There were hints of such a twist. Side stories and ideas were bounced around but never came to a head. I would have settled for a lame “there’s-no-way-that-really-would-have-worked” type of twist. But nothing. Just as time runs out in blowout basketball games, with the losing team never having a push for a comeback, this film went to the locker room with a slight whimper and its tail between its legs. A bore through and through.
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