Pelham 123

Pelham 123, a film by Tony Scott with Denzel Washington and John Travolta could have been excellent...

Pelham 123, Movie Review

Tony Scott usually does very good thrillers, with solid stories like Man on Fire and Déjà Vu (both with Denzel Washington), and in which he raises questions in us while hitting a nerve.

In Pelham 123, the final station, the director revisits the 1974 movie, which featured Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw. Without wishing to compare the two, as this would be unfair, I still have to admit that Tony Scott’s version misses.

Screenwriter Brian Helgeland had indicated that the emphasis was placed on the relationship between the two men, the dispatcher of the New York subway (Denzel Washington) and the hostage taker, Ryder (John Travolta).

Unfortunately, that's all we finnd in the film. The scenes of action and other stories seem to have been added in the rush to fill a hole, while other facts are not explained nor really presented.

And if the relationship and the game of cat and mouse between the two men is very well portrayed, we are left hanging, wondering why Pelham 123 is concluded so quickly. Leaving us wonder if, by chance, we will be entitled to a director’s cut on DVD or Blu-ray.