The Taking of Pelham 123 is a remake of the 1974 film that starred Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw based on the 1973 novel by Morton Freedgood under the name John Godey. The title of the novel and films comes from the identity of the train which is the subject of the heist and ransom. it is the subway train leaving Pelham, New York at 1:23 p.m., hence the name Pelham 123. The 2009 incarnation of the film directed by Tony Scott is billed as an action -packed thriller and stars Denzel Washington and John Travolta. Those of you who actually saw the original film as I did a long time ago, probably don’t recall the film as an action packed thriller and for good reason, it wasn’t. The original film was a thriller but based mostly on the dialogue between the two lead characters. Given the advancements in film making, The Taking of Pelham 123 seemed like a very logical choice for some 21st Century updating. And the result? Well, read on.
Film
The plot of the Taking of Pelham 123 is rather straight forward. The film is set pretty much in real time with the plot unfolding in front of you. You witness Ryder (Travolta) enter the New York City subway with his accomplices will ill intent on their minds. They quickly begin to put their plan in place to highjack the train.
Enter Walter Garber (Washington) a subway dispatcher who notices the train stopped on the tracks unexpectedly. He tries to raise the operator via phone without success. However, the reason for the stoppage quickly manifests itself with Ryder making his ransom demands of $10 million in $100 bills in one hour. He threatens to kill a hostage for each minute the money is overdue. As they talk on the phone, Ryder begins to take a liking to Garber and quickly learns that Garber is suspected of taking a bribe involving the purchase by the New York City subway of new subway cars and uses this information against the both Garber and the New York City government, He demands that the mayor (James Gandolfini) get involved and to speak with him, for the sole purpose of humiliating him in public. When the ransom money arrives, Ryder demands that it be delivered by Garber alone and from that point on, the film reaches its inevitable conclusion.
While I did enjoy the film a bit, I was expecting a more emotionally involving and riveting film. For an action packed thriller, I found the picture to be a bit too predictable. It is essentially a remake of the prior film with much coercer language and a few stunts thrown in, driven almost entirely by the dialogue between Garber and Ryder. Tony Scott and his crew did do a remarkable job of capturing the look, feel and sound of the New York City subway, actually filming the movie there rather than on a sound stage, which I am sure made for many a logistical nightmare. While I can’t recommend this film for a purchase, it is definitely worth a look. Rated as a rental only.
Video
All and all, this is s fine transfer. The film features a well saturated color palette which is skewed to the color brown. Skin tones and the overall look of the film appears rather brown, done in no doubt to reproduce the gritty and grimy look of the subway system. Blacks are deep and stable. Film grain is well preserved and I couldn’t detect any significant application of digital noise reduction or edge enhancement. Detail, clarity, sharpness and shadow detail are all very good. My only quibble is the overall level of detail and clarity which falls just a bit short of the very best looking films I have seen on Blu-ray. I have no doubt however that fans of the film will be more than pleased with the quality of the video on this Blu-ray release.
Audio
This is a very impressive audio presentation. Overall fidelity is very good with a smooth and open sound with very good transparency and imaging. The depth of the recorded sound is very good both in terms of front to back and side to side depth. The dialogue track is well recorded as well and well placed in the mix. Given that this is still a dialogue driven film, this is very important. The surround speakers are used rather aggressively to create a very immersive sound field, realistically capturing the sound of the subway with cars racing to either side of you. Where I felt that the sound fell a tad short of the best sounding Blu-ray discs is in the level of dynamics and bass response, which were both a bit more subdued than I would have liked and would have pulled you a bit more into the action that you are. Other than this rather minor caveat, this is an excellent sounding audio track.
Special Features
I frankly was expecting a bit more from the extras included with this release. all of which are included in HD. Included is a commentary by director Tony Scott as well as a commentary by screenwriter Brian Helgeland and producer Todd Black. Also included are the usual making of featurette “No Time to Lose: The Making of Pelham 123″ as well as a look into the New York subway system entitled “The Third Rail’ The NYC Subway System, which I found the most interesting of all the extras. The final two featurettes are entitled Marketing Pelham and From the Top Down: Stylizing the Character both of which deal with the making of the film and the stylistic choices of the director. The release is BD-Live enabled and includes a digital copy compatible with PCs, PSP, Macs or iPods.
Final Thoughts
While I was a bit disappointed with this film, it is definitely worth a look, but on the basis of a rental only.
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