The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 [Blu-ray]

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 [Blu-ray]
by Tony Scott

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 [Blu-ray]

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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Denzel Washington, John Travolta, Luis Guzmán, Robert Vataj, Victor Gojcaj
Director: Tony Scott
Brand: Sony
Producer: Anson Downes
Producer: Barry H. Waldman
Producer: Don Ferrarone
Producer: Jason Blumenthal
Producer: John Wildermuth
Writer: Brian Helgeland
Writer: John Godey
Blu-ray: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); Catalan (Original Language); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.40:1
Running Time: 106 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: 2009-11-03
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Product features:

Condition: New
Format: Blu-ray
AC-3; Color; Dolby; Dubbed; Subtitled; Widescreen

Movie Reviews of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 [Blu-ray]

Movie Review: An amazing movie, put forth with excellent performances by its two leads!
Summary: 5 Stars

Normally, it would be hard to manage to pull off an adaptation of source material with not much to it like "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3". I mean, I have read the book and I thought it was pretty cool, but nothing amazing, and in the end it was just a time passer. However, one day, my girlfriend and I went to go see "The Hangover". After being unable to get tickets due to it being sold out, we decided to see "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" instead. It was opening weekend for this movie, and so we thought "if not for The Hangover, why not TTOP123?" We gave it a chance.

I was a bit skeptical, since the book was satisfactory at best. I thought it had a lot of good parts, but for the most part, felt rather more like a series of explanations of characters than a story. And I thought that ending was a total WTF moment. However, much to my surprised, I ended up really loving the movie more than I thought I would! When you take a story that's disjointed, it's hard to turn it into something substantial; however Tony Scott managed to do just that. Let it be said that I am in no shape or form a fan of Scott, I enjoyed films like "Enemy of the Sate" and "Domino", but I was ultimately let down by "Déjà vu". It just felt totally dumb and lopsided, and way too complicated for its own good.

Passengers on an afternoon train, Pelham 1 2 3, are just having an easy and laid-back day- that is, until Ryder and 3 other baddies come in and hijack it. They disconnect the train, leave one car on the tracks and take everyone on the train hostage. Ryder keeps in constant contact with Walter Garber, who is in the control center. Through radio, they keep in contact, and Ryder comes up with an unrealistic request- that they must have exactly $10,000,000 to them in an hour. If it doesn't get there on time, they will shoot one passenger for every minute that goes by. The Mayor, The deputy of the police dep't, and even a hostage named George (A.K.A. Geo) get involved, and lucky Geo has a laptop with a webcam, thus allowing his girlfriend who he's chatting with to get the network to tap into the connection so that this footage can be broadcast live.

This movie is for 3 audiences:
1. People who love Tony Scott
2. People who are action/thriller junkies (like me)
3. People who love Denzel and/or John

And if you are any of the above, it is recommended that you see this movie! Of course it's not perfect, but it's a brainless and totally fun action thriller with tons of suspense, excitement and action. However, the best things about this movie are the two leads- Denzel Washington and John Travolta. They offer amazing performances! Denzel continues his awesome acting streak as Walter Garber. He ditches his usual "Cool bad guy" style for a family man and desperate business man style and he does well, whereas Travolta manages to play a psycho very well! This has been called his "comeback role", I am not surprised. He did extremely well.

So don't expect anything deep and just go in there expecting a totally fun brainless action thriller that will keep you hooked.

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Summary of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 [Blu-ray]

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 11/03/2009 Run time: 106 minutes Rating: R

John Godey's 1973 novel The Taking of Pelham One Two Three boasts a suspense situation so surefire that even the directorial bad habits of Tony Scott can't ruin this latest movie version. Four armed men seize a New York City subway train, isolate one car, and threaten to start killing passengers if a ransom isn't paid within the hour. The ransom was a million dollars in the book and also in Joseph Sargent's solid 1974 movie, in which Robert Shaw played the mercenary leading the hostage takers and Walter Matthau was the growling transit cop trying to outsmart him. In 2009, the title has gone digital--The Taking of Pelham 123--and inflation has jumped the asking price to $10 million. Where Shaw's menace was steely, John Travolta opts for manic, and shamelessly has a blast in the master villain role. His adversary, cagily underplayed by Denzel Washington, has been upgraded in civil-service rank but also demoted on suspicion of taking a bribe. This colors the dynamics of the dialogue between Washington at his control-center console and Travolta on the motorman's microphone aboard the stalled train.

So far, so reasonably good. But the director's trademark tactics keep getting between, well, everything. From the get-go, the visuals are subjected to pointless and irritating stutter effects, speeding-up/slowing-down, gratuitous camera movement, and the interposition of dirt- or light-smeared panes of glass between the camera and people we'd appreciate a clear look at. The 1974 movie settled for one police car being wrecked as the ransom is rushed uptown; Scott requires multiple collisions, each the occasion for police cruisers taking Lethal Weapon-style flight. The hostages in the earlier film were wittily individuated, a multicultural group portrait of the city at that mid-'70s moment; the ones on Scott's train--and also Travolta's fellow perpetrators, including that wonderful character actor Luis Guzmán--barely register. On the upside, John Turturro and James Gandolfini shine as two guys who (like the actors themselves) are very good at their jobs?respectively playing a hostage negotiator and His Honor, the mayor. The screenplay by Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Mystic River) strives intelligently, if formulaically, to add new dimensions to the main characters and to offer its own gloss on the current economic meltdown. --Richard T. Jameson

Stills from The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (Click for larger image)

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