The original movie was a smart witty thriller , a cut above the usual heist thriller . Some people might complain the action is a little bit too static but that's not the point and it is very important to remember this . Having nothing better planned I turned over to Film4 to catchthis remake and caught the tail end of the advert break . It was only after two minutes that I realised what I was watching wasn't the adverts but the opening sequence of THE TAKING PELHAM 123 . That's says all there is about this movie
Do I have to repeat it ? It's important to remember that whilst the original only having two sets , the subway control room and the subway train the original film managed to carry itself by some smart dialogue and character interaction . This obviously isn't enough for director Tony Scott and the production crew who feel the need to bludgeon the audience to death with MTV style camera work , editing and score . It's as if the production team think if people are being held at gun point on a train that's not exciting enough for a cinema audience so feel the need to insert sequences regardless of it makes any sense or not
It might have been a good idea to make the hostages in the train interesting . The original film succeeded on this score even if they were slightly offensive in their ethnic stereotypes but hey nothing is perfect but even that was preferable than a jarring cut of police cars zooming around the city with crash zoom lens , then to even this up we get a sequence in slow motion . The only people in this film who deserve any credit are the hairdressers who gave John Travolta the same hairstyle as me