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Category:    Home > Reviews > Thriller > Action > Chase > Drama > Kidnapping > Terrorism > The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009/Sony Blu-ray + DVD)

The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009/Sony Blu-ray + DVD)

 

Picture: B/C+     Sound: B+/B-     Extras: C     Film: C

 

 

One of the worst trends lately is remaking a film that was just remade as a failed remake.  The Poseidon Adventure was remade as a bomb TV mini-series, yet Warner decided to do an expensive feature film only to see it (here comes the pun) tank.  Joseph Sargent’s The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three (also 1974) was remade as an unmemorable TV movie back in 1998 with Edward James Olmos, Vincent D’Onofrio and Donnie Wahlberg that was a big mistake.  So now we get Tony Scott remaking the film 11 years after that with Denzel Washington and John Travolta.  It’s commercial fate will never be based on what audiences thought as Travolta’s son died and he was not available to promote the film, resulting in poor box office, but the film is now out on Blu-ray and DVD.  So did it work?

 

Not exactly, but it could have.  The biggest problem is that it is again set in New York (not Toronto like the TV movie) where the original film was made.  After 9/11, that is a big mistake in judgment since Travolta takes on Robert Shaw’s role as essentially a domestic terrorist.  The choppy opening shot that equates his character with urban Hip Hop tries to establish his character as “street” while not being able to escape the shadow of his iconic role in Saturday Night Fever.  Washington takes on Walter Matthau’s role as Garber, the radio subway attendant who lands up becoming unwittingly caught up in the killer’s madness.

 

At first, the story sets up an ironic difference in the characters (Washington is a family man who is no longer “street” if he ever was) and Travolta’s Ryder is a new kind of urban guy outside of inclusion into society.  This could have been an interesting dynamic had Brian Helgeland’s screenplay adaptation held up, but his broad commercial writing is some of the poorest for a successful writer today with few exceptions and this is not good.  He gets distracted with idiotic bits like Ryder’s possible connection to Catholicism which has nothing to do with anything and seems as thrown in as much of what happens after the first 15 minutes of the film.

 

Of course like the original, some other good name actors make up the supporting cast like John Tuturro, James Gandolfini, Luis Guzman and Michael Rispoli, but the film gets lost in a bad combination of predictability, too much post-modern editing with shaky camera work and a script that is all over the place.  The money is in the production and few action pieces, but it adds up to little except some wasted performances and no point.

 

The original film had a cynical edge about the city and in that; another city besides New York of all cities should have been picked to remake this.  MGM was hoping for a hit and enough people missed this that it will likely do business on Blu-ray and DVD, but not for too long as it is a disappointment.  Scoot has not made a feature film since the underrated Déjà vu (reviewed elsewhere on this site) and this was a more commercial move.  Too bad it does not hold together.

 

 

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image was shot in Super 35mm film format is somewhat soft due to the “urban style” of the piece, which means it looks like everything is slightly in the shade (very unrealistic) no matter how bright and sunny it is.  We have seen much worse versions of this, but it does not work here and the anamorphically enhanced DVD is much softer to the point it can be hard to watch.  The DTS-HD Master Audio (MA) lossless 5.1 mix goes from dialogue-based clean recording to bombastic moments of sound that has some character and is better than many mixes we have heard lately, yet it is not great either.  However, I will not fault it for its silent moments and this is a good recording.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on both formats can be lively, but are no match for the DTS-MA and comparisons will show subtle ways why.  Harry Gregson-Williams’ score is his weakest in years and no match for the David Shire music from the original film.

 

Extras on both versions include four making of featurettes, two feature length audio commentaries (one by Scott, the other by Helgeland and Producer Todd Black) and the Blu-ray adds MovieIQ & cinechot interactive functions and Digital Copy for PC and PC portable devices.

 

For more on the music of the 1974 version, try this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/242/Taking+of+Pelham+1-2-3+(1974/Limited+Editi

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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