The Taking of Pelham 123

2009

Action / Crime / Thriller

83
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 51% · 231 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 52% · 250K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.4/10 10 207391 207.4K

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Plot summary

Armed men hijack a New York City subway train, holding the passengers hostage in return for a ransom, and turning an ordinary day's work for dispatcher Walter Garber into a face-off with the mastermind behind the crime.


Uploaded by: OTTO
July 15, 2022 at 12:43 AM

Director

Top cast

Denzel Washington as Walter Garber
John Travolta as Ryder
Luis Guzmán as Phil Ramos
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
651.09 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
R
23.976 fps
1 hr 46 min
Seeds 3
1.45 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
R
23.976 fps
1 hr 46 min
Seeds 14

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by claudio_carvalho 6 / 10

Flawed with the Usual Exaggerations

In New York, four criminals led by the smart Ryder (John Travolta) hijack the subway train Pelham 123, stopping the first car with nineteen hostages in a higher plane in the tunnel in Manhattan. Ryder calls the subway control center and the operator Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) talks to him. The abductor demands ten million dollar and gives one hour to the delivery by the City Hall. The Mayor (James Gandolfini) accepts to pay the ransom while the NYPD negotiator Camonetti (John Turturro) assumes the negotiation. However Ryder demands that Garber, who was demoted from an executive position due to the accusation of accepting kickback in the purchase business of Japanese trains, continues to be his liaison with the authorities. Within the tense hour, Ryder empathizes with Garber and asks him to bring the money to the train.

"The Taking of Pelham 123" could be a good movie, with a story with potential and great cast. Unfortunately it is spoiled due to flaws combined with the usual exaggerations of most of Hollywood action movies. There are terrible moments that really destroy the story, such as: (1) why the corrupt Garber would confess the true story of his bribery? He could have told a fantasy to satisfy Ryder and keep secret of his kickback. (2) Why the ransom was not transported by helicopter? (3)Why that imbecile girlfriend would insist on asking her boyfriend to say that he loves her in such a tense situation? (4) Even in an unusual day like that one, how could an investment be multiplied by 150 in a few hours? Two million dollars transformed in three hundred million dollar in less than two hours is simply ridiculous. (5) Why should Garber risk his life following Ryder? (6) Why should two criminals under siege of a large number of police officers and without any protection shoot their guns? (7) Garber had less than six minutes to reach the location to deliver the money and spends precious seconds talking nonsense with his wife. (8) Why would a cold blood killer like Ryder with three hundred million dollars to pay bribery pacifically surrender to Garber? I listed only some absurd and silly parts that insult the intelligence of any average viewer. Unfortunately I have not seen the original movie to make a comparison. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Sequestro do Metrô" ("The Hijack of the Subway Train")

Reviewed by Lejink 2 / 10

Miss this train

Cards on the table, I loved the original 1974 movie on which this latter-day remake was based. It was exciting, clever and funny. I don't know what it is with modern-day remakes of classic 60's and 70's films but it seems to me that directors throw almost all the good stuff out and bring in instead eye-hurting jerky-flashy camera-work, an ear-poundingly loud soundtrack which is constantly in the background and even-louder talking characters who swear and commit random acts of mindless violence whenever it suits them.

So the Pelham 123 subway train in New York gets hijacked by disgruntled psychopathic Wall Street trader John Travolta as part of a devious plot to make a killing on the stock- exchange and revenge himself on the city for turfing him out of his high-paid job years before. That's your plot folks, with Denzel Washington as the demoted subway controller now running point in a desk job pending an investigation for corruption, who finds himself on duty just as Travolta and his bunch of merry men put their plan into action.

For some strange reason madman Travolta hits it off with decent man Washington, ignoring professional cop negotiator John Torturro, as he executes his nefarious plan. There's the expected number of bloody killings along the way, completely irrelevant car-chases around New York where cars don't just crash, they rise vertically in the air and roll over a dozen times on collision (the police have no less than three separate accidents trying to race the ransom money across town to meet Travolta's deadline) and of course, an out of control train tearing over New York with a car-load of innocent passengers who probably wish they'd taken the bus instead.

It's all unbelievable nonsense as you'd expect. I'm fast tiring of Washingston's ever-narrowing repertoire of decent-but-flawed leading men, Travolta is just awful as the loudmouth gang-leader and Torturro irrelevant as the negotiator. Only James Gandolfini shines as the city mayor who divines Travolta's real plan, wouldn't you know it, before the cops do.

The direction is garishly bad, the dialogue excruciating, especially the scenes between Washington and Travolta and Washington and his wife. There's no humour present at all, although there are some unintentional laughs, like when a rat runs up the trouser leg of a police sniper just as he's taking aim at Travolta, causing him to miss.

I've decided I really have to stop watching high-octane low-intelligence nonsense like this in future. Better yet, I wish Hollywood would stop making or remaking movies like this altogether.

Reviewed by Smells_Like_Cheese 6 / 10

It started off so good... where did it go wrong?

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, from the minute I saw the trailer, this looked like it was going to be such an exciting thriller. We have two great actors in the leads: John Travolta and Dezel Washington. Where could you go wrong with that? So my boyfriend and I saw this movie a couple nights ago and had a great time. The movie was intense and provided very good action… BUT… there is a huge but… the film just fell flat at the end. The first and second act are extremely entertaining and beyond intense, two power house actors pulling in very decent performances, had great chemistry and did a good job with the script they were given. But what the heck was with the ending? We shift into this Action 101 book of clichés list and was a complete let down. As a movie, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is certainly entertaining, but when it comes to being realistic, yeah, it's pretty bad.

Four heavily armed men, led by a man who calls himself "Ryder," board a New York City subway 6 train, then proceed to take control of the train. Meanwhile, MTA dispatcher, Walter Garber, is assigned to the Rail Control Center due to an ongoing investigation that he took a bribe to recommend a Japanese car manufacturer for the next subway car contract. The group then uncouple the front car from the rest of the train and hold the passengers of that car hostage. Ryder and the hijackers settle down on the front car, demanding $10 million dollars in ransom money to be paid within the next 60 minutes. For each minute past the deadline, one passenger aboard his car will be killed. Garber and Ryder exchange conversations though the microphone, Garber agrees to have the city pay Ryder the $10 million ransom. Lt. Camonetti enters RCC, and Garber's boss, who has a rocky relationship with Garber, orders Garber to leave the premises. Camonetti takes over the hostage negotiations, infuriating Ryder who demands that Garber be put back on the mic and that he will speak only to Garber. Beginning a very award friendship as the clock ticks down to get the money for the hostages.

Over all I would recommend this for a matinée show or just a rental, it's nothing I would say to rush out and see. It's still a decent enough movie that I'm shocked John Travolta actually made a good choice in taking. He's a great villain when he wants to be and he proved that in Face/Off. Denzel also did a great job as this poor man who just coincidentally was having an average day and now all of a sudden has the added pressure of having lives depend on him. But like I said there are some major flaws that came with this film as well, there were unnecessary moments like what was with the kid and his computer? It had nothing really to do with the story and wasn't that vital. The nice army black man that jumped in front of the gun to protect the kid, the kid's mother talks to him before, but turned out to be unnecessary. Still as silly as these flaws are, it's still a fun movie to watch, I'm glad I checked it out.

6/10

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