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muzykah
Joined: 03 Jun 2009
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 Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 4:02 am Post subject: good ride with the taking of pelham 123 |
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�The Taking of Pelham 123� is a riveting ride'By Jeff Simon
I suppose �The Taking of Pelham 123� could have been hijacked and turned into a bad movie, but frankly I don�t see how.
Once the principals signed on the dotted line �Denzel Washington, John Travolta, John Turturro and James Gandolfini all under the direction of action movie specialist Tony Scott �it would have taken an act of unusually malevolent fortune for it to be anything other than a hugely satisfying action thriller.
It�s a remake of a brisk, thumping 1974 B-plus movie that you could probably remake every 20 years to foolproof effect. It�s already been a 1998 TV remake, after all, starring Edward James Olmos.
That�s not even close to true of the really great films of 1974, which only an idiot would try to remake. Can you imagine stars and directors with the sociopathic chutzpah to think they could improve in any way on �The Godfather, Part Two,� �The Conversation,� �Blazing Saddles� and �Chinatown�?
Whatever gray there once was has been removed from this tale of a hijacked New York subway train. We�re in Tony Scott world now, where actors resembling the original�s Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw and Martin Balsam aren�t permitted. If the original used a sledgehammer to make its points, this baby has a steam-driven pile driver.
Washington and Travolta, as the movie�s antagonists-in-chief, are terrific. Washington is a New York transit official named Garber temporarily demoted because he�s suspected of taking bribes while sent to Japan to buy new trains. He�s a graying, ultra-competent middle-aged bureaucrat with the gently overhanging gut of a peaceful and sedentary life and the quiet air of a guy who�s got an imprint of the entire subway system in his head.
He�s a total family guy as well � so whipped (in some eyes) he�ll take his wife�s instructions to pick up milk on the way home while in the middle of the hijacking�s most dangerous and combustible details. And yet the bribe we�re talking about is $35,000 � college tuition money in an era of Bernie Madoff.
Even his iniquities, then, are modest, retiring and bureaucratic� almost endearing. How Denzel must have loved doing a whole movie in rumpled, ultra-competent homebody mode.
Travolta is the chief hijacker, his exact opposite, a flamboyant psychotic with a Fu Manchu mustache, a shady Wall Street past, a very recent prison record and a promise to kill subway passengers every minute until he gets what he wants.
Travolta, bless him, has been good at psychotic flamboyance ever since John Woo got him to trade screen personalities with Nicolas Cage in �Face Off.� Travolta had so much conspicuous fun �doing� Nicolas Cage that his impression was, on a couple of occasions, even more fun than Cage�s original prancing earlier in the film. Believe me, it�s only a short step from there to swishing around in plus-sized drag in the musical remake �Hairspray.�
Travolta is not quite Heath Ledger in �The Dark Knight,�� or even Denzel in �Training Day� � but he�s having such a fine time spitting screenwriter Brian Helgeland�s psychopathic wisecracks at Tony Scott�s exhibitionistic camera in his face that he and Denzel have the audience riveted in between all the running around and ticking clocks.
They�re in constant contact as the kidnapping deadlines approach when hostages will be killed. Travolta will only talk to Denzel. Don�t throw any officious, by-the-book hostage negotiator like John Turturro at him. He�s just too nuts to want to play games with some trained psychologist.
�You may be the last friend I ever make� he tells Denzel. It�s a Buddies Under Duress film, then, while all hell is breaking loose on the streets and under them. Think �Die Hard,� as Bruce Willis keeps in touch with lowly cop Reggie Veljohnson, his brother under the skin.
Needless to say, Tony Scott can�t resist giving you semihysterical edits and 360-degree camera whirls that make you nauseous. Or lots of car crashes as the cops speed to the subway station with the ransom money.
Things only turn completely ridiculous at the end when Denzel � with his family man paunch and tie � suddenly turns into a combination marathon runner and Big Game Hunter as he chases down, on foot, Travolta in a speeding car.
The idiocy of the ending only adds to the fun.
The principals are enjoying it all too much for the ending to make do with the plod of plausible realism.
Don�t expect much of James Gandolfini here as a New York mayor. Other than some ordinary exasperation and some early film asides about how much he hates the subway (and would prefer sipping pina coladas on the beach), he�s just around because his size lends authority to everything he does.
Similar to the way the showbiz stature of the actors adds instant authority to this movie.
Foolproof Hollywood chemistry for the summer box office lab: Denzel + Travolta + Tony Scott = Instant Action Flick Authority.
Good fun. |
i totally agree with this guy. i loved it. or was it the lack of really good movies the past month? hmm.
to see this movie, check for showtime at http://koreamovietimes.com...
...or visit us to check out the movie and schedules of the theater near you. [/list] |
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Pink Freud
Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Location: Daegu
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 5:42 am Post subject: |
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it was barely tolerable
the storyline unoriginal, the only twist in the plot is foreshadowed in a way a ten year old couldn't miss
the movie seemed pointless: not enough suspense or action to represent those genres, and the drama was - well - on par with a television police series of last century
maybe the Catholic discussion about redemption and sin and stuff was supposed to be meaningful, seemed just like dialogue filler, went nowhere, did nothing
the ending was just plain dumb, blah... gritty reality? *shrug* tired old moral tale?
the movie is entirely forgettable
(the only good thing to be said was the acting - but there is only so much they could do with the thin plot, lack of character development, sour dialogue)
the direction was awful, trying to speed up disjointedly at absurd times, one of the worst speeding car scenes in movie history, really a head shaker, silly, superficial, uninteresting except for microseconds of crashing
the whole movie crashes and burns |
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digsydinner
Joined: 24 May 2009
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| Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 8:46 am Post subject: |
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| agreed...saw it last night. save your money and skip it. |
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Bloopity Bloop
Joined: 26 Apr 2009
Location: Seoul yo
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| Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:40 am Post subject: |
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Did anyone actually think it'd be good at all?
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digsydinner
Joined: 24 May 2009
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| Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 10:01 am Post subject: |
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| Bloopity Bloop wrote: |
Did anyone actually think it'd be good at all?
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with travolta and denzel...you would have thought it would at least be half decent. |
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Milwaukiedave
Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Location: Goseong
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| Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 4:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Wow, this is one of the movies I was looking forward to. Maybe I'll wait and download in three or four months when it shows up online in dvd format. |
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Pink Freud
Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 6:09 pm Post subject: |
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See the original.
Great cast of mostly character actors (including Jerry Stiller, Ben's dad.) led by Robert Shaw and Walter Matthau. Ripping dialogue. Very well edited, with one particularly funny scene with visitors from the Tokyo Subway Authority. It does seem dated, though. Definitely not a B movie. |
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Oreovictim
Joined: 23 Aug 2006
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| Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 6:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Pink Freud wrote: |
See the original.
Great cast of mostly character actors (including Jerry Stiller, Ben's dad.) led by Robert Shaw and Walter Matthau. Ripping dialogue. Very well edited, with one particularly funny scene with visitors from the Tokyo Subway Authority. It does seem dated, though. Definitely not a B movie. |
Yeah, the original was really good, IMHO. I didn't know that Jerry Stiller was in it. I'll have to watch it again sometime. It's probably a bit obscure to find. |
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muzykah
Joined: 03 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 5:29 am Post subject: |
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| Bloopity Bloop wrote: |
Did anyone actually think it'd be good at all?
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haha.. yeah. i saw that most critics bashed the movie. and i really liked the movie. it's always different if you saw the remake BEFORE the original. i thought it was good!!! =D =D
well, i was not able to watch the original... now im really interested. 
anybody has an idea of a website to find the original movie? i am kind of new to watching movie online.
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muzykah
for movie showtimes and listing, go to http://koreamovietimes.com/ |
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diver
Joined: 16 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 6:45 am Post subject: |
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| digsydinner wrote: |
| Bloopity Bloop wrote: |
Did anyone actually think it'd be good at all?
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with travolta and denzel...you would have thought it would at least be half decent. |
I thought they were both good, but the movie as a whole just didn't add up to the sum of its parts.
I liked Travolta in it, but he is no Robert Shaw. |
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