Die Hard on a Train: The Taking of Pelham 123 Remake

The new remake of Pelham 123 looks lousy. First of all director Tony Scott is a hack and has been since he topped out in 1995 with Crimson Tide. He had something going for him for the decade that proceeded that with movies like Top Gun and True Romance and The Last Boyscout, but after Crimson Tide, it was all downhill. From Spy Game and Domino to Man on Fire to Deja Vu, Scott became so focussed on technology that he forgot about storytelling. Even Enemy of the State was just a mediocre retread on familiar territory.

And yet for some reason the critics are liking this new remake. And as much as I am shocked, it seems believable. Evudently Scott is going back to his old ways with this one, no longer preaching technology first and plot second. I don't like John Travolta as a villain, from Broken Arrow and Face Off, but maybe the blame lies with John Woo, the director of those two movies, who is a very corny individual (great as he is with action).

So director Tony Scott might be redeeming himself with this one, and Travolta might be showing that he can actually play a villain, just not under John Woo, but there's also a third component to why this movie might be okay. Brian Helgeland. The man who penned LA Confidential with Curtis Hanson and then wrote and directed Payback all on his own. Granted that Helgeland has had setbacks too, (he wrote Man on Fire, and made The Order, and A Knight's Tale completely missed its audience), but if the best of Tony Scott (going back to his old ways) meets the best of Brian Helgeland, and Denzel is on his A game, and Travolta steps it up as a villain, maybe, just maybe this movie could be alright. The critics seem to think so, and I think they might be onto something.