The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: June 12, 2009
6.3
USER SCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 188 Ratings
USER RATING DISTRIBUTION
Positive:
89
Mixed:
74
Negative:
25
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User Reviews

User scoreBy dateMost helpful
1
DwayneTJul 5, 2009
A roller coaster ride that doesn't make any sense. Just outright stupid.
0 of 1 users found this helpful
3
LondonTrueloveNov 10, 2010
I'm a Travolta fan, and a big Denzel fan, but together they just plain blew. The whole time you're just waiting for the movie to get good and it never does. Not to mention the ending was horrible.
0 of 1 users found this helpful01
All this user's reviews
3
StephanP.Oct 1, 2009
This movie was extremely tiresome. The only thing that worked to it's favor was the first two minutes.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
2
PaulSJun 12, 2009
Another movie that Hollywood should not have re-made.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
2
LindaJun 21, 2009
Sometimes they shoud just leave things alone. The original with Walter Mathau was great. They tried to up that one using two very popular actors in Denzel and John T. Although the acting was great the story fell apart in the second half of Sometimes they shoud just leave things alone. The original with Walter Mathau was great. They tried to up that one using two very popular actors in Denzel and John T. Although the acting was great the story fell apart in the second half of the movie. And where the movie started out worryng about the hostages, instead an untrained Washington turned the ending into a mano to mano cops and robber caper with the passengers all but forgotten leaving them to get out of their own misfortune. Awful writing.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
1
SeanFJun 20, 2009
The movie was sailing along very nicey until the last 30 minutes. Then nothing made any sense. Doesn't anyone read these scripts to see all the plot holes? Wait for this on TV.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
1
DaleC.Jun 18, 2009
Awful. And I'm not just saying that as a fan of the original. Tony Scott's horrible editing style makes no sense and adds nothing to the story. The music is terrible. The visual give-aways are an insult to anyone who has a brain. 1 Awful. And I'm not just saying that as a fan of the original. Tony Scott's horrible editing style makes no sense and adds nothing to the story. The music is terrible. The visual give-aways are an insult to anyone who has a brain. 1 point for Denzel's good performance. Skip it. You're missing nothing.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
3
ArdenJun 18, 2009
Action, action, and more action. The movie sucks you in from the beginning. Then in the last 30 minutes the movie falls apart as the credibility of the script cannot be overlooked. The Denzel Washington character goes from middle aged desk Action, action, and more action. The movie sucks you in from the beginning. Then in the last 30 minutes the movie falls apart as the credibility of the script cannot be overlooked. The Denzel Washington character goes from middle aged desk jockey without any training to Rambo.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
1
johnny2centsNov 13, 2009
I really didn't know if I should laugh at the pure stupidity of this piece of insulting crap or cry because I wasted time on this nonsense. I wish Tony Scott would cut it out already with the grainy jittery shit. It was cute in Man on I really didn't know if I should laugh at the pure stupidity of this piece of insulting crap or cry because I wasted time on this nonsense. I wish Tony Scott would cut it out already with the grainy jittery shit. It was cute in Man on Fire but enough. I read most of the Users critics and no wonder the state of movie making is in the shape it is in, looks like most people will settle for anything. As long as there is a bang and a boom then some salty cursing every 2 minutes it doesn't matter that the movie made absolute ZERO sense. Entertain me but please don't insult me.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
3
garyJun 15, 2009
Just ridiculous. Spoilers omitted. John T plots hijack of subway train. Denzel works for the NYCTA as a dispatcher with a past. Somehow within an hour the police give him a gun and turn him loose on NYC even though he is not licensed to Just ridiculous. Spoilers omitted. John T plots hijack of subway train. Denzel works for the NYCTA as a dispatcher with a past. Somehow within an hour the police give him a gun and turn him loose on NYC even though he is not licensed to carry a gun or knows how to use it. And he is relentness like The Terminator. If you use your brain nothing makes any sense. Ridiculous.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
1
RobertJun 17, 2009
The movie was good to start and then fell apart completely. Whoever writes this crap should be arrested for impersonating a writer. Let me ask a question? Would someone just released from prison use his own name and invest millions but never The movie was good to start and then fell apart completely. Whoever writes this crap should be arrested for impersonating a writer. Let me ask a question? Would someone just released from prison use his own name and invest millions but never consummate the trade to lock up a profit? And would that person risk his own life instead of hiring thugs to pull off his masterplan for chump change? Would a mild mannered transit worker who rides the trains to and from work suddenly learn how to shoot a gun and drive thru the streets of NY like Evil Knievel? And if a black man ran around the streets of NY waving a gun do you think that somewhere someone may have called a policeman? And if a subway train is roaring out of control on elevated tracks do you think that one of the passengers might dial 911 on their cell to advise that there is no motorman? And there's an open computer the entire time. There were more plot holes in this movie than swiss cheese. After the movie is over you start thinking and nothing makes any sense. Just awful.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
1
JeffG.Jun 23, 2009
What makes this movie really bad is this: Every New Yorker knows that they would have shut-down the whole subway system if this really happened. In the movie, trains with passengers were going by the police on the tracks with rifles. What makes this movie really bad is this: Every New Yorker knows that they would have shut-down the whole subway system if this really happened. In the movie, trains with passengers were going by the police on the tracks with rifles. Additionally, the hi-jackers had guns. And trains with everyday passengers were passing by. This would never happened. New Yorkers know better. The movie needed the cheap thrill of trains moving by. This made the film incredible. Maybe the folks who made the movie have never taken the NYC subways. But even someone who never rode the NYC subways can fiqure out that the whole entire system would have come to a stop!!!… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
2
MeritCobaJun 1, 2019
This movie propagates a cynical view of humanity that many moviemakers cater to and by doing so feed it. It is what sells to a crowd that has lost their faith in the authorities and whose faith gets further eroded away by movies like these.This movie propagates a cynical view of humanity that many moviemakers cater to and by doing so feed it. It is what sells to a crowd that has lost their faith in the authorities and whose faith gets further eroded away by movies like these. The police is incompetent, politicians are self-serving, reporters fabricate lies, the judicial system is failing. It is all in there. Man is wolf to man. The only thing they didn't lose faith in is the hero,as they think themselves to be that hero, but it would be the ultimate unraveling of society if even the hero can no longer be trusted(this movie gets close

I find it annoying that moviemakers like Tony Scott feel that they have to make the bad guy pure evil. He has to make Washington's boss into a bastard. He has to make the police incompetent. He has to make the mayor into a self-serving git. He has to tick all those cliches just to crank out a story.
It just shows poor storytelling if you think that you can't achieve a (good) movie without making a lot of honest well-meaning and hardworking people into buffoons, crooks and morons. Is it so impossible to just show normal people dealing with a bad situation instead of stacking up a huge pile of cliches?… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
All this user's reviews
2
FilipeNetoSep 2, 2019
A good Denzel, an acceptable Travolta, some action and a mediocre script.

It was with little expectation that I saw this movie, since I already guessed that, being a pure action movie, it would not be particularly remarkable. I didn't knowA good Denzel, an acceptable Travolta, some action and a mediocre script.

It was with little expectation that I saw this movie, since I already guessed that, being a pure action movie, it would not be particularly remarkable. I didn't know it was a remake of an older movie, nor did I bother to see that movie because I didn't even find it.

The movie basically talks about a hostage situation inside a New York subway carriage. Nothing original, we've seen better things in other movies. There are dead, there are innocent victims, there are good doses of action for those looking for it, but there is no firm plot behind it. What we have are basic premises that lead to the situation that is happening. There are two characters who stand out (the cynical and ruthless kidnapper leader and the innocent subway traffic technician he insists on negotiating) who dominate the film, and everything else boils down to action, an attempt of permanent tension where everyone's lives are at stake. But the tension is so artificial that I never truly felt it because it was already guessed that all, or almost all, would save themselves in the end.

Denzel Washington and John Travolta bring the film's central characters to life, and their relationship is truly strong and can keep audiences interested in what's going on. Proof of this are the careful and interesting dialogues between both characters. Travolta, nonetheless, is an actor who does not work hard, leaving the hard work to Denzel. The rest of the actors are doing what they can, but the material given to them is small and bad. James Gandolfini, John Turturro and others are strongly affected and I doubt they have fond memories of this movie.

Technically, the movie is regular, not to say rather mediocre. From this negative scenario, however, there is a very decent soundtrack that goes against what we expect in an action movie, and an interesting cinematography, with good light and shadow, the faded colors at the expense of greater camera movement. Effects that would have accentuated the audience's sense of discomfort ... if they had not already fallen asleep with the boring, predictable and slow script that is presented.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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