Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Okay, I'm not going to say much, but I really have the best intentions of blogging on a regular basis again. I hope I can do it. It's up to you guys to bug me if I fall by the wayside again.

So I'm just going to start with a quick review of the movie I went and saw last night. I was in the mood for something fairly mindless and I was successful.

Tony Scott is a Director that I have a love/hate relationship with, at times when at the top of his game he can deliver some real gems, i.e. Top Gun, True Romance, Enemy of the State. Other times he seems to be just going throught motions, i.e. Days of Thunder, and The Fan. And he's also made some not great movies that are just guilty pleasures, I still can't turn off Last Boy Scout if it's on. Either way, I try to see all his films and I have to say, Pelham did not dissappoint.

It's your run of the mill action movie and premise for the most part (it's a remake of the 1974 Joseph Sargeant film). But I found my eyes glued to the screen and not once wondering when the movie was going to end. And I owe almost all of that to the cast, Denzel Washington is one of the great actors working today and in nearly all of his films he is the Alpha Male. It was refreshing to see him in a role that was definitely not. An early scene where Denzel's character is put in a place, was a revelation to see, I couldn't think of a time where I had seen a character played by Denzel that was so broken by life.

John Travolta plays the main baddie. And I think at this point he should stick with it and pass on anything else. Yes, he's over-the-top, but he brought a couple things to the role that I hadn't seen before. And the rest of the cast was great as well. Luis Guzman and one of the other bad guys. John Turturro was mostly wasted but is always fun to watch, as the hostage negotiator. And in a fun twist, James Gandolfini as the Mayor of New York who added a bit of bluster and toughness to the role.

The updated script was by Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Mystic River) and he wrote a pretty mainstream action script. There were a few touches that were over-the-top and made me roll my eyes. Although, there were a few lines that really made me smile. Including one near the very end spoken by Gandolfini's Mayor regarding baseball, that shows the true face of politics that I absolutely loved.

Pelham 1 2 3 is not going to win any awards, but it knows this and doesn't pretend to be anything it isn't. It's an action film for modern day, what with our economy in tatters, and the way technology rules much of our world. It's a fun popcorn movie for summer.

B-