breakfastcowl

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Ditches the work-a-day everyman quality of the first and plummets into a music video breakdown of 9/11-charged Recession-era thrills and spills while trying to speedrun the emotion of Heat or somethin-... oh, and there's the swell of the piano again, sheesh. Really like the look of this throughout but didn't find much else to hang onto-- would much rather watch any other of his movies.

ron

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

“A good Catholic knows that nobody is innocent.” Well, I suppose I will be making my way through Tony Scott’s filmography this year, even if I hadn’t intended on doing so. PELHAM 123 is…pretty average. What really holds this entire film together is Washington and Travolta’s individual charisma as they play Garber and Ryder—the two central characters who share an almost adversarial camaraderie. Their conversations are engrossing and you almost want to keep them talking, not because you care about the hostages, but because of how compelling it feels to watch them match wits. There’s some other things to enjoy as well. Such as the brief conversations Garber has with his wife (he bought the milk! fuck yeah!) and the overall tension to the film. It’s a Tony Scott film so it goes without saying that it looks gorgeous and has a wholly unique grading to it that only he can successfully pull off. But outside of that…it feels like there’s not much going on. And the ending also feels like a whimper than a bang, disappointing me in all elements but one—Denzel’s character and his conclusion.