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The Taking of Pelham 123

Movie Grade: B-

DVD Features Grade: B

Overall Grade: B

One of the biggest complaints about modern Hollywood seems to be the "lack of originality" in film making. There is a lot of banter about how filmmakers don't go through the same strides to try and create an innovative movie anymore. The issues with this are the Hollywood's creativity hasn't changed much over the years. What a lot of people don't realize is that movies were often adaptation of books, legends, true events, and other inspirational things. Now there are films that are merely adaptations of other films, and even though this is bothersome in many ways, it is often no less creative then drawing a story from another outlet. The Taking of Pelham 123 was not only a film in 1974, but it was also a novel from 1873 "” just saying.

The story remains ultimately the same in both cinematic embodiments of the work: a New York City subway "” Pelham 123 "” is high jacked and several passengers are held hostage. Walter Garber (Denzel Washington), a subway dispatcher is unfortunate enough to be the man that makes contact with the hijackers and relays their demands. Though some minor details are different in the original, like Garber's first name and job position, all the major plot points are the same: subway is hijacked, demand a ridiculous ransom, threaten passenger's lives if the ransom is late, etc.

The similarities to the original aren't the issue in this one though. The problem is that all of the modern techniques, the only real reason to remake this film since the story is ultimately the same, are nothing short of awful. From the second the film starts the camera work and editing makes it all seem like some sort of cheesy rap music video: with extremely shallow focus, choppy camera rotations, and Jay-Z's 99 Problems playing in the background. The script also takes an impressively low brow approach this time around with a gratuitous number of F-bombs dropped for no apparent reason whatsoever. The great thing about the main hijacker, Ryder (Robert Shaw) in the original was his calm British accent and seemingly docile personality. This time around, Ryder is portrayed by a frantic and over-acting John Travolta. Not even the veteran acting styles of Washington and Travolta could pull this script out of the gutter.

No Time To Lose: The Making of Pelham 123, is a fairly average feature being that it is exactly what you would think of it. It has interviews with the cast, crew, and director as usual, and gives an inside look at the whole process of modernizing and retelling the story in the novel and original film. Despite having a very clever title, it is average due to the fact that there is no real incite

granted from all of the interviews. It is decently obvious why it would be remade and even though there are some nice little nuggets of knowledge to hidden in this half hour feature; it is about twenty-five minutes of predictable babbling. If you like behind the scenes materials, this will suffice, but if you don't find pleasure in bonus materials this won't change your outlook on them.

The Third Rail: New York Underground is a surprisingly interesting feature. The basis of it is discussing the importance of the New York City subway system. Interview with cast, crew, and even MTA workers give an insight on how crucial those trains are to the livelihood of the city, and that it could quite possibly crumble without this transportation. It also sheds a light on the dangerous nature of the work when filming down in the subway tunnels. The mere fact that the tunnel scenes were filmed on location inside of the subway tunnels is outstanding due to the amazing number of things that could go terribly wrong down there. Seeing the dedication of those involved in the film to authenticity gives a new layer to the quality of the film.

Even with quality actors and legitimate scenery, this remake fails to improve upon its predecessor. Not to say that the original was a masterpiece of any kind, it is a par action film. Also, this isn't to say that this remake is at all sub-par, it's nothing but adequate. The problem with this remake is not that it does an injustice to the original, by the fact that it doesn't improve upon the original. For everything that is improved, something is weakened. Considering this film a project among itself, it is an acceptable action film that will keep you entertained. There are many other films that could do much better to quench your thirst for fast-paced action.

Movie Grade: B-

DVD Features Grade: B

Overall Grade: B