Year: 2009
Running Time: 106 Minutes
Rated: R
SRP: $39.95
Studio(s): Sony Pictures
Release Date: November 3, 2009

Film/Feature: B
Taking of Pelham 123 is a remake of the 1974 film, Taking of Pelham One Two Three. In the original film, Walter Matthau plays a New York City Transit cop who tries to stop four men from hijacking a subway train. The leader of the hijackers is played by Robert Shaw, and the film was a damn good one. I’d be the first one to criticize Hollywood in rehashing a perfectly good film–if it was bad.

Tony Scott directed this new version of Pelham, and changed Matthau’s cop to a railway operator named Walter Garber played by Denzel Washington. The main hijacker, Ryder, is played by John Travolta who has a list of demands that include $10,000,000 in cash within an hour, delivered by the mayor of New York (James Gandolfini). It’s a classic, bad-day-gone-wrong story where it doesn’t take long for Washington to hook us in playing a sensible and straight-laced railway operator who was lucky to be working his station that day. He doesn’t appear to have all the answers, but he uses his wits, and appears to be under duress at all angles.

When the communication link between Ryder and Garber goes down, the authorities are buzzing around Garber. NYC negotiator, Camonetti (John Turturro) coaches him through the ordeal. Then they begin to ask, why Garber? Why does Ryder trusts him so much? The more that’s revealed about Garber, we discover he may have been wronged by the city. Garber’s golden reputation is clouded. We don’t get too comfortable as the clock is ticking down, almost in real time, a la 24, keeping the pace fast with a psycho watching the time very closely.

Travolta’s recent track record has not been the stuff to write home about, but he drives Pelham 123 all the way to its somewhat predictable end and Washington continues to play a variety of roles we care about. Believe it or not, Travolta can play the lovable bad guy. Before-too-long you may find yourself wanting Travolta to have more screen time. Ryder is a tad over-the-top, but he’s no-nonsense, he’s serious and he’s nasty. Travolta is the aggressive ying, to Washington’s charismatic yang. It’s an easy assumption that this is film is passable at a quick glance, but Scott takes the post-9/11 New York, along with our technological crutches with two great generational actors and makes an amusement ride that’s worth the wait in line.

Video: A
Pelham 123 is a rip-rockingly glorious looking film in its 1080p, AVC-encoded transfer and original 2.40:1 aspect ratio. Colors leap out with good saturation, the levels of black darkness in the subway is accurately reproduced and contrast levels are right where they need to be. Skintones are warm but not overly red, and the textures and details are seen right to the last bit of beard stubble on Travolta face. At any one time you can almost take a pair of tweezers to your screen to pick out the random white whiskers Washington has on his face. Minor details like shadow delineation and reflections look remakable. I haven’t screened too many Sony blu-rays thus far but I expect a lot out of them given that blu-ray is their product, and boy does everything look like where it needs to be. Pelham was a real joy to watch.

Audio: A
Taking of Pelham 123 sounds excellent in its 5.1 English DTS-HD lossless audio track. The chest rumbling and clicking sounds of the subway are completely recreated in your home theater. As trains whoosh by the subwoofer kicks in to add the size and weight of each train. It’s not too heavy-handed or over-the-top, but it gives you enough to place you on the traintracks and subway platforms accurately. Noise travels left-to-right, and front-to-back precisely and similarly in reverse. There is plenty of dialogue spoken throughout the film and all of that comes from front and center. It’s spoken clear and distinct, and is able to be understood at lower levels. Dynamic range is generous sporadic and abrupt bursts of gunfire can be a bit startling when you don’t expect it. Other audio selections include: 5.1 Dolby Digital English Descriptive Track, French and Spanish 5.1 DTS-HD tracks, and a 5.1 Dolby Digital Catalan track and subtitles are available in English, English SDH, French, Spanish (Castilian), and Portuguese (Classic).

Extras: B+
There are plenty of extras to sift through and a handful of blu-ray exclusives. All of the supplements except one, are in high definition and in 5.1 Dolby Digital

Audio Commentary by director Tony Scott is up first and is an okay track but Scott picks his spots to drop his gravelly voice to tell a production anecdote and then leaves for moments of dead space. When he does come back on the mic, he has lots of stories of the research done on real life people who they based the film characters on.

I preferred to listen to the Audio Commentary by writer Brian Helgeland and producer Todd Black who fill the time with lots of information about how the story came together, and the choices made to create a remake. At times both men talk a little too lovingly about Phelam 123, but overall it’s a good track.

No Time to Lose: The Making of Phelam 123 HD (30:25) is a solid all-around making of feature that talks about courting Denzel Washington, putting together a modernization and “retelling,” working with the MTA, and around the schedule of the New York City subway schedule.

The Third Rail: New York Underground HD (16:15) is a logistical look into trying to film a movie in the New York City subway system. The director of film and special events MTA NYC Transit, Alberteen Anderson amongst other city workers balance real facts about the Third Rail Power and the challenges of trying to shut down basically a main vein to the city for six weeks to shoot a film.

From the Top Down: Stylizing Character SD (5:17) Danny Moumdjian, of the Lab Salon talks about working with Tony Scott and designing the hairstyles and look of the main players of Phelam 123.

Marketing Phelam HD (7:04) is three trailers in HD.

Previews HD shows teasers for Angels & Demons (1:11), District 9 (1:42), Moon, Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day (2:01), Blood: The Last Vampire (1:44), the superfly and righteous modern blaxsploitation Black Dynamite (2:19), The Da Vinci Code (2:21), Casino Royale (2:34), Year One (2:16), and the new and wonderful sci-fi classic, Moon (2:08).

Blu-Ray Exclusives

Cinechat is Sony’s version of being able to chat to friends who are watching the blu-ray at the same time.

MovieIQ is a pull-down screen while you watch the film that’s like a virtual IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base) where you can view cast and crew info, trivia and production notes, music and soundtrack notes and other things to help you grow your info whenever you play Scene It or any other movie trivia game. I actually liked this option because I enjoy anything to vary the experience of repeat viewings that adds more knowledge about the film much like commentaries.

The second disc that’s included is a Digital Copy Disc for download for those with a PSP, PC, Mac or iPod.

Overall Shock Value: B+
This modern take shows how remakes can be done right and not tarnish the original, while being able to stand on its own. Washington and Travolta rope you in from the beginning in this taut, fast-paced, and simple action thriller, but if you’re looking for something much deeper, then look elsewhere. This is just a get-in and get-out kind of film that has you stuck in a tug-of-war of who you want to root for. The Taking of Pelham 123 gets a sterling technical treatment with plenty of extras should keep everyone busy and pleased with the blu-ray package.