The Taking of Pelham 123

I almost didn't review this movie because it was so blah. Denzel Washington and John Travolta are basically tied as my favorite actors of all time. Travolta because he's so incredibly versatile. He plays goofy, funny, sexy, a woman, serious, and apparently vindictive. His acting in the movie was top notch. I adore Denzel Washington because he emotes with his face, and barely has to say a word. He played the same exact character he plays in every other movie, but in a lower tax bracket. He's a soft spoken do gooder who always saves the day. You might question his motives at first, but he always comes through. Halfway through I was convinced that he was a bad guy. Probably because I wanted so desperately for him to do something different. This isn't a role that I would have thought John Travolta could pull off, but he did. Denzel, well, of course he pulled this off. Even in American Gangster, the movie where he does play a bad guy, you find yourself wanting him to win. He plays the role with such class and control. He's a bad guy from the start, but one you'd like to take home to your mother. Not like John in Pelham 123. He's pure evil until the end. He's a rotten guy who got caught, served his time, got out, and became more rotten. I just love him.

The movie itself was not great. Too many stupid things happen that just make your eyes roll a little bit. A teen has his web came hooked up and is chatting with his girlfriend while he's on the train. After he's taken hostage, they lose connection, they regain connection when the computer is thrown perfectly under the seat, not harming it, but setting into into position to show everything going on, AND the girlfriend is somehow smart enough to stream the feed live on the news. Even though she's pissed that he won't say he loves her. He's a hostage with a gun to his head and one of them has already been killed, but she needs to know he loves her. So now Denzel and his cohorts have eyes on the train, know who they are dealing with, and make their move. There's a heroic moment where the terrorists led by Travolta are going to kill a random passenger; a woman traveling with her young son. A man steps in front of the gun and sacrifices his life for her. That's it. He's dead, and on with the movie. They never touch on it again, and though it's a movie, I wanted more for this man.

Travolta, "Ryder" wants $10,000,000. Either an arbitrary number made up to throw the police of the trail of what they are really doing, or money that "Ryder" is using to pay off his team. Ryder has already used a few million he saved from the last time he embezzled, and bought something in the stock market, which somehow sky rocketed when he took hostages on the subway. Am I nuts or just stupid? Why does the stock market race for the stars when there is a hostage situation? Before he's killed Ryder's up to over $300 million from his little stint playing the market. I didn't get it.

We hear hints here and there that Denzel's character Garber is being investigated for accepting a bribe and has been demoted at work pending an investigation. Works out well for Ryder. He uses it to create some common ground between the two men, and when the man on Ryder's team who is going to drive the train gets killed, he can demand Garber come into the tunnel and take over, Garber being a former "motor man". We never find out if they were trumped up charges or if Garber took $35K. I really hate it when events in movies seem to have real purpose and deeper meaning and they are just crap used to leapfrog to something more important. I feel like they could have found a better way to get under Garber's skin, and find out about him. So there isn't an internet article about him being accused of taking a bribe...maybe we can have Ryder hack into the transit authority database and find out Garber has two kids and threaten them. Or say they are going to his wife's house to...I don't care, punch her in the jeans.

I liked the movie because I like movies. I like watching John Travolta shock and surprise me. I like watching Denzel Washington PERIOD. That man ages really well. Too many holes in the flick, folks.