The movie stars Denzel Washington as Walter Garber, a New York City subway dispatcher/chief detective of the Transit Authority.  He seems to be having a fairly routine day until armed men hijack the Subway 6 train and demand $10 million in ransom for their safe release.

I have read that it was a bit of a challenge to bring this movie’s plot up to date since there have been amazing advancements in technology since 1974.  My first thought was that people would be able to have access to cell phones, GPS, text messaging and laptops along with the more advanced safety features you would expect to find on public transportation today.  While I felt that those could be potential drawbacks in the storyline, I realized that similar things could be employed to actually enhance the plot since modern hostage-takers have access to a far greater number of resources and tools.  If this is done correctly, it could be a decent enough film but early reviews have been mixed with most media outlets assigning the movie a score that hovers around 50%.  It makes me wonder why this movie was remade at all in the first place.

As I mentioned earlier, the cast is quite strong.  In addition to Washington, John Travolta takes on his first action role in a decade (as the leader of the hijackers) and, while I want to be optimistic, I think that his styling and image looks a little ridiculous.  I couldn’t tell if they were trying to make him look tough or younger (or both) but whatever the objective, it appears to have failed.  Travolta and Washington are joined by James Gandolfini (as the mayor of NYC) and John Turturro (as a lieutenant with the NYPD).

I also question whether audiences will want to watch a movie about hijackers/terrorists in New York City after everything that happened there on September 11, 2001.  The panic caused by that unauthorized White House photo-op in Manhattan a couple months ago is a sign that people are still on guard (and who can blame them?).

Maybe I’m being too hard on it but I will say that it’s probably a good thing that Pelham’s only real competition at the box-office this weekend is the equally questionable Imagine That.  Watch the trailer:

images: Columbia Pictures

Post from: EveryJoe