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Massawyrm says THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 fizzles out after two good acts...
Hola all. Massawyrm here.
Unlike many folks I’ve been talking with, I walked into the remake of THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 very excited. After all, the last time uber-genius Brian Helgeland teamed up with Tony Scott and Denzel Washington to remake a film, the result was MAN ON FIRE – a far superior film to its predecessor. Of course, this time they had their work cut out for them. The original MAN ON FIRE wasn’t a particularly great film. THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE was. For the most part, the update was successful. What works in this film really works. Unfortunately, it suffers from a classic, Hollywood blockbuster third act deflation in which everything that worked gets thrown out in order to ramp the film up to whole new level.
Sadly that level can’t live up to what has come before it.
On the outset, this film is tight. It is honed down to a razor’s edge with nary a wasted moment to be found on screen. Scott keeps his recent penchant for frenetic cutting under wraps (except during the opening credit sequence) and uses the pacing to keep us always painfully aware of how little time these characters have to accomplish what they need to. In this manner, the remake is far superior. Once Travolta takes the train, he puts his foot down, shows how serious he is and refuses to waver. As the time ticks away, you are forced to acknowledge that the city might not actually be able to meet the deadline – and at the point the movie reaches its boiling point. It is tense, edge of your seat filmmaking that never lingers, never wastes a single breath of air. The jokes, when they appear, leave as quickly as they arrived and the whole film feels like everything could explode at any moment.
It is under that kind of perfectly constructed pacing that we watch a battle of wits unfold between Travolta and Washington. Both of these guys are pros, and neither needs someone equally talented sitting in front of them in order borrow energy. You just wind them up and let them go. Washington is sedate, playing a downtrodden everyman caught in the middle of something very bad. While he may be the most capable person in the room to handle it, he should never have been put in this situation. He’s just not that guy. Travolta, on the other hand, is completely unhinged. A perfect foil to Washington and a stark contrast to Robert Shaw’s wonderful, but stone faced turn in the role 35 years ago, Travolta gleefully chews up the scenery with dialog that sounds like it was written more for Sam Jackson than Travolta. It’s angry. It is very yell-y. And most importantly, Travolta ends almost every sentence with “Mother Fucker”. I’m pretty sure he even throws out a “Mother Fucker, Mother Fucker” at one point.
Every scene in which we listen to these two verbally spar is a treat – each attempting to rattle the other into making a mistake, giving up a secret or simply surrendering to their way of thinking. Travolta is convinced these two have a lot in common. Washington on the other hand is trying his best to distance himself from the comparison. And the juxtaposition of these two men and what it has to say about responsibility, blame and the human condition is fascinating, riveting stuff.
But then, just as the movie’s slow boil begins to froth over, it all unravels and devolves into an actiony third act that undercuts everything they’ve worked to create. There’s an old story about a supposed meeting with Michael Bay about making the (later Joel Schumacher helmed) PHONEBOOTH in which Bay reportedly said something to the effect of “It’s great. I love the Script. But when can we get him out of the phone booth?” Well, this third act felt very much like that. It felt like they couldn’t wait to turn such a great tense character piece into something more mainstream. Which is a shame.
Fans of the original will note a lot of changes here. First and foremost is that the original Garber character (Played by Walter Matthau) was a hardnosed MTA detective and his exchanges with Shaw were brief, to the point and devoid of personality. Their conversations were between two grumpy bad asses that weren’t about to budge an inch. The battle of wits between them was one man keeping to a plan and the other trying to figure it out. Washington is just an MTA employee. Not a cop. Definitely not a bad ass. But he’s clever, dedicated and controlled – quite the foe for Travolta’s over the top, pissed-at-the-city criminal. These characters are brimming with personality and backstory – something completely lacking in the original. Helgeland’s dialog is SHARP and these guys come through loud, clear and in three distinct dimensions.
While the remake keeps many of the small details (taking the train at 2:13pm and demanding an hour), as well as a few chief plot points, there are scads of little changes that radically alter the entire film and make both distinctly watchable as separate films. One of their best decisions was to drop the original’s use of color names (Mr. Gray, Mr. Blue, Mr. Green). Sure Tarantino stole the idea from the original for use in his RESERVOIR DOGS – but he owns it now. It has become completely co-opted. Meanwhile, certain elements - like the rivalry between the criminals – find themselves abandoned entirely for the sake of something tighter, meaner and much more tense. Finally, the tone of the film is radically different. The original was something of a satire of New York City and the chaos inside the bureaucracy. Much of what goes wrong does so because the MTA doesn’t have its shit together. All of that is gone here. It’s a tight ship with state of the art communications and guidelines to deal with this kind of event – and this time around, that is what the criminals are counting on.
But once the film decides to abandon its formula and go more mainstream, it unravels almost completely. The film changes from something unique into something you’ve seen dozens of times before. Both Scott and Helgeland excel when delivering unconventional endings. They are filmmakers who are best at telling difficult, offbeat stories. When they try to go with by-the-numbers third acts, they almost always unravel as if they’ve gotten bored with the material. And that’s what happens here. I got bored during what should have been a breakneck, nail biter ending. It’s not so bad as to ruin the film – but it doesn’t live up to the promise of the first two acts.
Overall it’s a worthwhile film that should definitely be checked out. Helgeland’s words coming out of Washington’s and Travolta’s mouths are worth the price of admission alone. But it is a bit of a letdown to see something that could have been so good become ultimately forgettable by the time it gets around to wrapping up. It’s a good film - but something that almost feels like a test audience fucked with it somewhere along the line.
Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
Massawyrm
Got something for the Wyrm? Mail it here.
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Isn't that like closing the barn door after the horses escaped?
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Eat a dick Travolta!
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I've got nothing else to do.
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Again, the movie is praised and then not praised, given a "go see it" but only grudgingly. How about something definitive there Massa? I'm really getting convinced that you work for CHUD.
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Without the three.
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but Deja Vu was a let-down, and I have to admit, I enjoyed Scott's overblown editing style of the early 2000's because he used it at the right times for the right effect (except in Domino, admittedly). I wasn't really interested in seeing Pelham, but this review changed my mind.
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Right ?
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I was expecting a great revenge story, but I felt that aspect was really mishandled. Never felt satisfactory, just violent. And all the stuff with the girl was so horribly sentimental. the only good thing was the use of locations in mexico - it looked stunning.
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...Leads me to believe that this could go either way. I love the ensemble acting and fast pacing in TS's films. Sounds like all of that is here. So, what's the problem? Too much action at the end of the film? If so that's a good thing. Most movies nowadays don't have ENOUGH action. I'm hesitantly excited about this because of Denzel and Scott. But I also am a HUGE fan of the original. And I'm not looking for this new film to be that...I would prefer it went in a different direction. Sounds like that is exactly what Scott does. Good.
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This looks OK, but remakes make me feel dirty in all the wrong ways.
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I cant support a remake of an already perfect film
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...but Tony Scott is really good so at the very least I still think is going to be very entertaining. And that's really all I'm looking for. I'm not expecting them to reinvent the wheel. The Sergeant film is a masterpiece. But seeing as how there are quite a few people who haven't seen it i'm not sure what harm this film will do. I don't like remakes in principal. But that said I think Scott and Denzel are on a roll right now.
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It was cut like a bad NIN video... same problem I have with the Saw films. Takes away all sense of suspense.
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this is far too positive to be real. this film is an abomination.
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I admit that I am curious to see this due to the talent involved. I agree with you that I think they will produce something entertaining. But I can't give them my money. If it's on cable or netflix instant watching down the line, I'll watch it because I won't be directly giving my money to it.
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that looks like a decent fucking movie.http://bit.ly/n3Gel
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Man on Fire = 3/4 of crap, 1/4 of brilliance.
For that 1/4 of brilliance spread out over a whole film, see "Commando". Observe how Man on Fire's 3/4 is neatly summed up in Commando's opening credits. -
Do they keep David Shire's theme? Or are we in Harry Gregson-Zimmer land?
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Pushes the unintentional comedy way too far for me. I can't even watch the trailer without chuckling.
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I'll pass.
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The original version if on comcast's on demand for free. I'll be honest, I didn't know this was a remake until last weekend when I was bored and decided to see if there were any decent free movies on the on demand. Viewed now the original is really an interesting look at how a system like the NYC subway system was operated back then. Sure it is a movie and probably isn't accurate but it is still really interesting to see how archaic and difficult the system of running the subway was. I'll be interested to see this to see how different things are now. So is Travolta's character the only hijacker in this? I wonder how they will pull that off. It doesn't seem like one guy could pull off such a thing since, at least the way the subway ran in the original version, one of the hijackers would have to turn his back on the passengers to operate the train.
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sneeze at the end? Was that the letdown Worm? all that action and Washington is about to leave a Starbucks and Travolta sneezes behind him??
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John's raging against the machine of Xenu's warship fleet.
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You mention "Commando", Having Arnold walk into this movie reprising his Commando role and kill Travolta and Washington while screaming "CHENNY CHENNY" would make this movie about 100x better.. BENNETT!!!!
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jccalhoun, he isn't the only hijacker.It doesn't feel 'real' but, that works for the movieThe 3rd Act doesn't work. Sometimes style can kill suspense, and Tony Scott is guilty of that here. Better direction in "Man on Fire," and "Deja Vu".The performances are great in this movie.
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–but, it's worth a matinee. I'd go see "UP" first, if you haven't seen it.
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Jun 11, 2009 11:01:17 AM CDT
I'm only seeing this because of Washington and Travolta!
by hollywoodhellraiser
Their not scenes and scenes in the trailer looks really good! And its has TONY SOPRANO in the cast!So tired of these loud blockbusters that CGI our eyes to death!
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Jun 11, 2009 11:05:07 AM CDT
The twist I'd like to see is Washington and Travolta...
by hollywoodhellraiser
characters actually being in on the whole thing together!With Travolta giving Washington his part of the money and then END CREDITS!
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people hate on Battlefield Earth. Had they actually read the damn book that is. It was the first "Harry Potter" moment for a film. The book was under like 700-800 some pages and the movie was what, 1h 45mins? However I liked the movie for the most part. I kept all the elements of the book that actually fricken mattered.
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100% on the fucking nose.
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Commando is a yardstick film.
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commando is the pinnacle of human achievement.
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http://tinyurl.com/m52ucr
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http://tinyurl.com/l89l34
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I forget what site I read that on
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Jun 11, 2009 11:45:52 AM CDT
remaking Commando? "no chance" [picks up alyssa milano, walks
by ironic_name
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This movie will give his original a bad name and discourage people from seeing. Then again, he did direct Jaws: The Revenge, so maybe it's karma.
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Commando being remade with the Rock. Saw it on Joblo
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I may rent this eventually, but Scott's Man On Fire and Domino were HIDEOUSLY awful (although Deja Vu was pretty good). Nothing will top David Shire's score from the original, though. All Media Ventures composers should be banned from scoring movies for the next five years.
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in some little way.
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Bloated, unearned sentimentality, editing for the sake of editing, no tension, that stupid text. There's a lean, mean fucking revenge story in there somewhere that would be served by the terrific locales, but Tony Scott's more interested in making music videos.
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Jun 11, 2009 12:03:32 PM CDT
I'd like to remake commando by having a young alyssa call me dad
by ironic_name
and swoon over my massive log.
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He isn't fit to carry Shaw's jockstrap.
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I agree, Shire's score is legendary. the opening theme of the original alone got me stoked and ready. It;ll be interesting (probably a letdown) so hear the new music.
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...was amazing! I remember seeing the look on Matthau's face on the final shot thinking to myself "CUT! If they don't cut to ending credits NOW this film is ruined!" It did not disappoint! I can't see how the remake can top that.
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Most remakes tend to inspire special edition reissues of the original film as a tie-in (usually with a "movie cash" ticket for the remake), so where's our new DVD of the 1974 Pelham? I has to watch that terrible, non-anamorphic DVD from nearly a decade ago earlier this week. Even if there are no extras, just a crisp new transfer of the original would be greatly appreciated.
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The Rock is Matrix?
It says on JoBlo???.................
WHAT!?!?!.......................
NooooooOOOOOooooOOOOoooooooo............
But then who is going to be Bennett? -
If Helgeland was involved, it's almost bound to be shit. His adaptations are the worst (Blood Work and LA Confidential). It's a miracle that LA Confidential turned into a watchable film, because the massively changed plot made absolutely no sense.
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From what I can tell from the trailer Denzel is playing not only Matthau's character but also Dick O'Neil's and the other guy, the fat guy, who actually went down to the tunnel. I knew they would have to change some of it what with modern communication and wire transfer of money. It seems that the wire transfer would negate the need to go into the tunnel and a major plot point of the original movie. I know he still goes into the tunnel with the money but it's really unnecessary now. It also sounds like Travolta's character has a different agenda other than the money from Massa's review. The ending of the original is elegant and simple. I can see where they would mess that up by making it an action picture when it doesn't need to be. Probably still see it but it won't be as cool as the original for sure.
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come across as a very seedy looking bugger to me.
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then Bennet should be played by a HYPER-gay Vin Diesel, complete with Freddie Mercury moustache.
Keep Alyssa Milano as the daughter.
Play it for shits and giggles.
Then, I'd pay to see it. -
I could've gone to a pre screening showing, and I just didn't want to. I wasn't even busy.
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I feel like John Leguizamo should play Denzel's role. I don't know I just feel that it would make for a more compelling movie.
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Yeah really? There is a Harry fucking pull line in the trailer? Did he review it somewhere?
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but, it would just be different if he played the lead. Not more compelling, but different.
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My thoughts exactly!
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but, it would just be different if he played the lead. Not more compelling, but different.John Leguizamo would have been a major change in tone and energy. I'd love to see Denzel and Leguizamo together.
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That is as close as my life has come to remaking Commando.
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They did it for TV in 1998, and Vincent D'Onofrio was Travolta's character, with Donny Walberg and Richard Schiff in the cast. They kept the dialog almost identical, even though a good chunk of it was out-of-date.If the 3rd act is where the car crashes and motorcycle flip from the trailer take place, then they may have cobbled stuff from "The French Connection" onto this script. Why spend all that money for those stunts when it's not needed, and in a way hurts the film?----later----m
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No chance.
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It was a bloated mess - never understood what people liked about it - did Peter Falk read them a "best bits" version or something?
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Jun 11, 2009 2:13:12 PM CDT
I have killed 300 costa ricans and thrown a pipe though a dude
by ironic_name
I also live on island with my daughter.
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Jun 11, 2009 2:16:05 PM CDT
in a few years there wil be 3 movies being remade at all times
by ironic_name
just constant remaking with younger and younger casts till you have sperm playing the tizzlerminata.
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Was in the movie. Must've seen him in a trailer that's where I got that idea from.
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which all films should aspire to.
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Modern films are overburdened by today's screenwriters with way too much "backstory." In this kind of film I don't want to be "told" the backstory of the characters via dialog or flashbacks. I want to glean it from their actions and behaviors--you know, the way they used to do it in the old days. Todays crap flicks are under-constructed and over-written.
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Jun 11, 2009 3:29:55 PM CDT
That's one of the things that's so neat about the original.
by royston lodge
The way it ends. After the gun fight in the subway tunnel, the hunt for the last man is so friggin' mundane! It's such a weird way to screw with the audience's perceptions by slamming on the breaks and going from the frenetic, high-tension scene underground to the door-to-door canvass at the end.
I love that ending. It would take serious balls for a director today to try to pull it off. -
When the undercover cop jumps into action in the final act, it's such a great surprise. A director today would hint, and hint, and HINT, AND HINT at the cop's presense.
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people either love or hate. I'm on the love side.
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Suck it Travolta!
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That cannot be! Next thing you'll be saying that a McG or Boll movie is shitty...
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Here's a snapshot from it: http://www.connietalk.com/travolta_kiss2.jpg
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Won't see this. Washington always plays the damn uppity lawyer, policeman role. Shitty.
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Pause. "-but can we get away from this whole Outer Space thing-?!" Yes Mr. Bay. Go make your Giant Robots Hit Things!
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That has to be the least worked-up I've ever seen you get during one of your reviews, Massa. It doesn't really seem like this film pushed your button one way or the other, or maybe just that 2/3 of a good movie got blotted out by a lame ending. At least when you trash a film I kind of want to see how bad it is, but what you wrote makes me think I'd forget this movie an hour after I saw it.
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Maybe she did get kidnapped and some mercs tried to use her as leverage to get me into doing their dirtywork but I just forgot to do it or rescue her and they're still raising her.
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ha ha ha ha this film is such a fucking joke. Maybe it'll be good with Rifftrax someday.
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Luis Guzman on the other hand is in the movie. And, he always does a fine job.
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Damn good movie. It really held together well, and there wasn't the need for any crazy over the top, jets exploding in the tunnel bullshit that modern movies think they have to have to entertain the 12 year olds in the audience. But then 12 years go to more movies than I do so I shouldn't complain. What the fuck. Make the damn movie. Maybe I'll watch it in thirty years on late night TV.
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and the ny subway isnt scary, as it was during the 70s...so i could fucking care less about this movie
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Jun 11, 2009 10:31:31 PM CDT
You know who should have played the Matthau/Denzel role...?
by nasty in the pasty
Paul Giamatti.
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Looks fantastic.
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The original was almost perfect.
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You're my new hero. Everything you said about today's screenwriting is 100% dead-fucking accurate. You put your finger right on the problem. Well done.
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Damn McG to hell.
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Paul Giamatti and John Leguizemo. I'd buy that for a dollar. In fact fuck it, all Hollywood can do is remake, so why not remake it with those actors.
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Yes. It is true. And it doesn't fizzle out after two good acts, it fizzles out after the Columbia logo. Dogshit from start to finish. Retarded. Travolta is garbage here. Seems like a movie written by someone who hasn't ever ridden a NYC subway. Try getting YOUR wifi to work on a 6 train.
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LOL! I love that. ...And that is a bitchin' logo.
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I love how all the promotional materials show close-up headshots that cut off Travolta's hair line.
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