THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123

DIRECTOR: Tony Scott

CAST: Denzel Washington, John Travolta, James Gandolfini, John Turturro

rating: HH

The first film based on the novel The Taking of Pelham 123 was released in 1974. At the time, the prospect of a subway train being hijacked had rustled up such imagery that, for some time, the New York City Transit Authority (according to Wikipedia) decided that no trains would leave the Pelham station either at 1.23 a.m. or p.m.

No dangers of that happening with this release, notwithstanding that terrorism has hit both New York and subways in ways much worse than what the author of Pelham…, John Godey, would have ever visualised. This is because the new film is devoid of all panic. Its villain is an over-the-top Travolta, hurtling from mildly maniacal to mildly menacing. Also the train motorman, officials in the control centre and even the hostages hardly show emotion considering they are all staring at possible death.

Washington as the down-to-earth train dispatcher is the only one who shows some measure of what faces them. But the screenplay runs on dialogues of death, confession and sin without really meaning much. Also the much-anticipated face-off between Travolta and Washington is too brief.

There are other allusions too, especially to New York and its mayor Rudy Giuliani, but these are again just words. Pelham.. is just a slick action thriller, with the story running on anticipated lines.