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The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
2009 106 min United Kingdom, United States of America R 18+
★6.3
Crime, Thriller, Action
Director: Tony Scott
🎭 Based on
«The Taking of Pelham One Two Three»
byMorton Freedgood
Trailers
EN
Teaser
Teaser
Description
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.
Budget:
$100M
US Gross:
$65.45M
Worldwide:
$150.17M
Starring
Denzel Washington
Actor
John Travolta
Actor
Luis Guzmán
Actor
Awards
1 win & 7 nominations total
Key opinion
The 2009 remake of The Taking of Pelham 123 is widely viewed as a stylish but uneven crime thriller. While audiences are divided on the film's narrative weight and pacing, there is a general consensus that the chemistry between leads Denzel Washington and John Travolta anchors the experience.
| Acting | Denzel Washington provides a grounded, realistic anchor for the film by portraying his character as an ordinary, flawed man rather than a traditional action hero. | |
| Direction | Tony Scott's signature directorial style—characterized by kinetic camera work and aggressive editing—is divisive, with some finding it atmospheric and others finding it distracting or choppy. | |
| Screenplay | The film's screenplay is perceived as both an engaging, straightforward thriller and an underdeveloped narrative that relies on implausible plot devices and logic gaps. | |
| Pacing | The pacing fails to satisfy all viewers, oscillating between an effective, tension-filled focus on dialogue and an overall lack of momentum that some find boring or slow. | |
| Ending | The film concludes in a manner that many viewers criticize as anticlimactic, sugary, and overly reliant on tired Hollywood genre tropes. |