Directed by Tony Scott with a whoosh here, a Google Earth shot there, lots of backspinning visuals to go with Jay-Z's hip-hop on the sound track, The Taking of Pelham 123 pits Washington's mild-mannered Walter against the hijacking mastermind played by John Travolta. With a tattoo on his neck and villainy in his eye, Travolta is Ryder (not his real name) - his backstory a mystery, but his intentions clear. That'll be $10 million delivered pronto, please, or he and his crew (Luis Guzmán, Victor Gojcaj) will begin picking off the moms and kids, college students and suits, Army vets and homeless ladies, who are quaking in the car.
For most of the movie, Washington and Travolta converse by phone. But a face-to-face for the two A-listers seems inevitable. And it is.
The original Pelham, released when New York was a symbol of insolvency, incompetence, urban crime, and grime, doesn't hold up: The racism and sexism displayed by Walter Matthau (the hero!) and his cohorts spreads through the narrative like an infectious disease. Robert Shaw is the stony ringleader, and the suspense mounts accordingly, but the film feels flimsy and terribly dated now.
Scott, with his ADD-directing style and a screenplay (by L.A. Confidential's Brian Helgeland) that layers on a few twists, has delivered a film that at least feels of the moment. The character sketches are more sophisticated (but still sketches), the machinations of New York's mayoral office (James Gandolfini is His Honor) less cartoonishly cynical and inept. But I'll wager that in another 35 years, Scott's version will seem just as awkward and antiquated. The style will be outdated, and there's not much substance going on underneath.
