Implausibility and Amiability
So the implausible first... The Taking of Pelham 123, seen Saturday afternoon June 20, 2009 at the UA Midway, Auditorium #1. If you Love NY 1 Slithy Toad. Else 2. Talk about finding laughs in all the wrong places. The 2009 remake of The Taking of Pelham 123 has its virtues. The lead performances by Denzel Washington and John Travolta are quite pleasant to watch. That almost goes without saying for Denzel Washington. With Travolta, you never know quite what you might get. But here, he's a good foil, playing a subway train hijacker against Denzel Washington's subway dispatcher. There are some nice turns in the supporting cast, like James Gandolfini as the Mayor of New York City. If you can live with the fact that 2009 is simply not 1974 in any way or shape or form, you can accept that the movie is acceptably updated and remade. Oh, it goes too far. The first movie ends in an almost anti-climactic and certainly very subtle kind of way, and the new version goes all the w...