The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3: Critic Reviews

An open-hydrant whoooosh of an action thriller about a hijacked NYC subway train with passengers held as hostages -- a caffeinated update of a 1974 city-on-fire cult classic that cracked wise with a cynical, now nostalgia-inducing, graffiti-era veracity.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, an energetic updating of the 1974 mass transit thriller, takes account of how much the character of New York has changed.

Head-bangingly hyperactive as ever, action maestro Tony Scott appears to have upped his caffeine intake for this unexpectedly entertaining remake.

The new Pelham takes the chilling original premise and modifies it for an era steeped in technology, making for an energetic and engrossing adaptation.

Like most of Scott's recent films, this one ends in self-indulgent silliness. You end up asking yourself, how do the few fun bits of the film manage to survive in the midst of so much lousy filmmaking?

The new Pelham is a solid, suspenseful tale all over again, so long as it stays in the subway tunnels and airless offices of the transit department.

Scott's redo comes up short in almost every regard against the '74 model.

Like the subway itself, things move by connections, craziness and clockwork in The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, a fast and relentless hostage thriller that never stops.

Most of the film's energy is generated by flamboyant cinematography and music-video cutting, and much of that energy is false.

At first it's exciting, but as the film progresses, that quick-cut, never-stop pacing seems increasingly desperate.

Kinetic director Tony Scott balances his need for speed and flash with fleshed-out drama, making Pelham the best of his recent outings.

Travolta's high-tech 21st-century scheme turns out to be not just preposterous but superfluous, demented.

Can a director be arrested for the attempted hijack of our emotions?

There's not much wrong with Tony Scott's The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, except that there's not much really right about it.

Denzel Washington is that valuable paradox, the relatable supernova. [But] it's too bad the movie around him isn't better -- the '74 edition, propelled by David Shire's incredibly badass theme music, kicks the remake's behind all the way to Coney Island.

Crisp supporting turns by John Turturro (as a hostage negotiator) and James Gandolfini (as the mayor) combine with plenty of vehicular mayhem to make this a superior diversion.

As Ryder's motives begin to reveal themselves, The Taking of Pelham 123 loses its aura of post-9/11 dread, replaced by a muddled commentary on Wall Street greed in these days of raging financial crises.

Set in a nightmare New York City, the subway hostage thriller batters our nerves like a tom-tom.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is a near-perfect summer entertainment thriller that shows good story, good director and good actors trump gaudy special effects any day.

There's fun to be had in Pelham, at least for a while, but nothing more than that.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is an efficiently reworked version of a tense, ticking-clock suspense story.

The new Pelham, although no classic, is a lot of fun if you're in the right mood.

It's a movie that gives you little to ponder and one that's more easily quoted than felt.

Against all odds and better advice, director Tony Scott, screenwriter Brian Helgeland and main protagonists Denzel Washington and John Travolta take a much-loved genre classic and arguably make it better.

Not a bad way to pass a couple hours, as long as you don't sit too close to the screen and are inured to a steady barrage of loud dialogue that doesn't bother to be clever.