A group of armed criminals, led by the charismatic Ryder (John Travolta), hijack a New York subway train with the intention of holding its passengers hostage for a cool $10 million ransom. Caught in the middle of the chaos is world weary subway dispatcher, Walter Barger (Denzel Washington), who unwittingly becomes far more hands-on with the hostage situation than he’d anticipated.
Not nearly as intense or as entertaining as the 70s version, Tony Scott’s bombastic, fireworks display of an action movie re-introduces the director’s crash bang wallop lack of subtlety. Although it’s not as much of a sensual assault as the excruciating Domino, Pelham’s needlessly flamboyant camerawork is little more than intrusive and annoying.
While the incredible cast would suggest something of an ensemble delight, the disappointingly flat script, complete with dull and sometimes irrelevant back stories, fails to make good use of the film’s talent. John Turturro is relegated to playing stereotyped arrogant NYPD bigwig, and James Gandolfini gets the flimsiest of roles as the city mayor. Travolta and Washington indulge in a few entertaining verbal bouts, but the pairing could have created pure cinematic gold in another writer/director’s hands, or at the very least something far more memorable than what we have here.
Though the film itself is hardly worth the fare, Pelham 1 2 3 is one smooth ride on Blu-ray. Blacks are strong within the darkened locales of the New York underground and the subway train, and during exterior shots, the picture is sharp with some intentional grain, boasting great textures and natural colour tones. Close-ups reveal great detail on Travolta’s crazed face and Washington’s stubbly head, and while things get a little blurry when Scott’s camera goes haywire, the visuals are pretty much first class throughout.
Matching the impressive visual presentation is the rather excellent audio. Though a good portion of the running time focuses on the banter between Denzel and Travolta, the booming audio does kick in intermittently, rattling the speakers with blasts of music and special effects. The sound of gunshots and bullets crashing to the floor is crystal clear, while the speeding and frequently crashing cars of New York City fill the room with a rich and varied audio. Even the clink-clank of the train and the subtler sounds of the underground contribute to a fully immersive atmosphere thanks to great use of the rear speakers.
The special features include two audio commentaries that overlap in terms of content occasionally but both cover interesting points about the production.
The ‘Making Of’ featurette is pretty standard ‘behind the scenes’ stuff, which spends about 30 minutes with the director and crew, discussing the problems of filming “the hard way” in New York City. The ‘New York Underground’ featurette spends about 15 minutes discussing New York’s atmospheric subways, and then there’s a completely pointless ‘From The Top Down’ featurette, which focuses on, wait for it, the film’s various haircuts.
All in all it’s a respectable bunch of extras, and with such a dazzling visual and audio presentation, Pelham may just about be worth a rent, although the film is far from being a masterpiece.
Overall Verdict: As a film it’s flat and unexciting, but the Blu-ray offers one helluva ride.
Special Features:
Cinechat
BD Live
Audio Commentary With Director Tony Scott
Audio Commentary With Brian Helgeland And Producer Todd Black
‘Making Of’ Featurette
‘New York Underground’ Featurette
‘From The Top Down’ Featurette
‘Marketing Pelham’ Featurette
Reviewer: Lee Griffiths
