The man in question leading this operation is Ryder (John Travolta) and he's taking all the people onboard as hostages and wants ten million in exchange for their lives. That money needs to be delivered in an hour and in the meantime, Ryder wants to exchange some chit-chat with Garber, get to know him better, just probe his brain. Under the advice of experienced hostage negotiator Lt. Camonetti (John Turturro) Garber starts talking to this mysterious hijacker, who is proving himself to be a most violent and unpredictable individual that is trying his hardest to get inside Garber's head and further rattle him. Today may have started out like any other normal day, but it's sure not gonna end like one.
The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3 would not be the first time Tony Scott and Denzel Washington collaborated for train-themed thrills, as just 17 months after this 2009's movie release, Scott and Wahsington paired up again for the excellent thriller Unstoppable. Though Pelham 1 2 3 (a remake of a 1974 motion picture) doesn't hit the highs of Unstoppable, it's still a pretty exciting and entertaining movie in its own right. The screenplay by Brian Helgeland is just the kind of crackerjack thriller Tony Scott knew how to craft with finesse as the movie executes a cat-and-mouse game with a heavily looming ticking clock element that does a great job at keeping one at the edge of their seat.
The uncomplicated nature of the plot Helgeland chooses to tell is a big reason why it works so well. There's some supporting characters in here (like a Mayor played by James Gandolfini, for instance, and a few of the passengers being taken hostage get discernible personalities) but this is mostly a Washington/Travolta show, with the two exchanging back-and-forth dialogue while spending the majority of the movie countless miles apart. Just centering it on these two going at it, trying to extract information from the other while the camera whirls around in a 360 degree manner turns out to be a lot of exciting fun, especially since both actors are doing top-notch work in their roles.
When you want someone who can cool, calm and collected while still exhibiting clear traits of humanity, there's few in the business that can do that as well as Denzel Washington, the guy just emanates that kind of personality so effortlessly. It may not be shocking that Washington can pull off this role so well but it doesn't mitigate the strong work he does here, no sir. What is shocking though is how seriously good John Travolta is in this part, I mentioned in my Punisher review how the guy knows how to ham it up in genre film parts, and while he is anything but subtle in his characters most profane scenes, he's actually able to exude a convincing sense of menace his role, he makes for a really interesting and believable villain. One of the better turns from Travolta from the 2000's for sure, he makes a terrific evil counterpart to Washington's more flawed than expected protagonist.
The scope of the movie does expand beyond these two in the third act to include a city-wide manhunt and a steadily going faster train with innocent passengers trapped inside that does feel like a step down from the more contained and intimate nature of what's preceded it (two odd bits of shoehorned in humor in this section of the film also feel distracting), while it's worth mentioning James Gandolfini, though a welcome presence in any feature, feels like he could have gotten more to do in his part as the Mayor of New York City. But those gripes aren't nearly enough to make me deny that The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3 is a delightful surprise, a really well-made thriller that Tony Scott directs with real skill and one that allows for two great performances from two noteworthy performers.
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