A compact thriller inflated into a big-budget showpiece that casually throws away its own best attributes to pander to an audience with an impaired attention span.
Comment
06/11/09
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)
51
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:203
Fresh:104
Rotten:99
Average Rating:5.4/10
Consensus: Despite a strong cast, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 suffers under the excesses of Tony Scott's frantic direction, and fails to measure up to the 1974 original.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Aug 27, 2009 Wide
US Box Office: $65,452,312
Synopsis: In The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Denzel Washington stars as New York City subway dispatcher Walter Garber, whose ordinary day is thrown into chaos by an audacious crime: the hijacking of a subway... [More]
Starring: Denzel Washington, John Travolta, John Turturro, Luis Guzman
Director: Tony Scott
Reviews for The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
181 - 200 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Scott does his best to turn this back-and-forth into an action movie, but it does more to distract from the simple, economical story than enhance it.
06/11/09
Easily, the best non-animated studio movie of the summer so far, starting with a nearly perfect script by Brian Helgeland.
06/10/09
It's a movie that gives you little to ponder and one that's more easily quoted than felt.
06/10/09
Director Tony Scott has built a career out of crafting films that have been unabashedly geared toward the testosterone set. It's hard not to admire the R-rated gusto with which Scott has infused this film. It's actually refreshing, in this sanitized, hope
06/10/09
There's fun to be had in Pelham, at least for a while, but nothing more than that.
06/10/09
An open-hydrant whoooosh of an action thriller about a hijacked NYC subway train with passengers held as hostages -- a caffeinated update of a 1974 city-on-fire cult classic that cracked wise with a cynical, now nostalgia-inducing, graffiti-era veracity.
06/10/09
The essential intelligence of the screenplay and two masterful performances at the film's center engage us with the thrill of a magnetic psychological contest.
06/10/09
Pelham 123 exploits urban anxiety without relief or understanding. Using exacerbation as entertainment, it is simply an I HATE NY ad.
06/10/09
Scott's redo comes up short in almost every regard against the '74 model.
06/10/09
Film must truly be a director’s medium. How else can such a deep pool of talent -- cool-as-a-cucumber Denzel Washington, James Gandolfini as a shifty NYC mayor, screenwriter Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential) produce such a pounding headache of a remake?
06/10/09
Resistance is futile. Even though Tony Scott's hyper kinetic thriller is nowhere near as smart as it thinks, it's sure effective all the same.
06/09/09
Foolishly attempts to update the 1974 classic by cranking the volume and inflating the Noo Yawk attitude to a cartoonish level of macho posturing.
06/09/09
Scott seems not to trust the cat-and-mouse maneuverings of Washington and Travolta to carry the film, instead sucking away the claustrophobic intensity with car chases and other superfluous frills.
06/09/09
The prevalence of technology also makes the crime itself seem rather archaic. This is the way a criminal mastermind steals millions of dollars today, by hijacking a subway train?
06/09/09
May not be as exciting as some may hope for what is essentially a summer popcorn flick. What keeps it from being a complete loss is the strong character work from Washington and Gandolfini.
06/09/09
Are Tony Scott's films actually directed by Google Earth?
06/09/09
Scott's loose remake of Sargent's 1974 classic is mixed blessing: While Helgeland's characterizations are deeper and sharper, the film suffers from helmer's excessive stylistic flourishes and a preposterous third reel that almost negates the good elements
06/09/09
Travolta is terrific in this sharper, wittier, thoroughly contemporary revisit to the New York subway train derailed by a intelligent but psychotic criminal.
06/08/09
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is an efficiently reworked version of a tense, ticking-clock suspense story.
06/08/09
Top CriticLatest News for The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
August 27, 2009:
10 Hair-raising Moments With John Travolta
Travolta's brutal butch hair -- or lack thereof, handlebar moustache aside -- in this week's remake of The Taking of Pelham 123 got us nostalgic for ol' dimple chin's former... More...
June 19, 2009:
Submit to the RT Show and Earn a Cool $100
Time for the weekly update, folks. As always, thanks to everyone who has submitted reviews and helped contribute to the show. Every week, we continue to bring you a lively,... More...
June 15, 2009:
Watch RT on Current TV
This week, The Rotten Tomatoes Show will be looking at the movies that opened over the weekend, with help from you (the Rotten Tomatoes community), the Current TV community, and... More...
June 13, 2009:
Denzel and Travolta co-star in remake of classic hostage drama. 
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