Tony Scott usually gets the shit end of the stick when compared to his brother Ridley. The fact is that both Scott brothers have made their share of good and bad movies.I simply seems that Tony has stuck to a more mainstream dumb action summer blockbuster type of movie throughout his career and has got a lot of slack for it.
What I like about Tony Scott is that going into his movies I know exactly what to expect and thus am almost never disappointed. Ridley has done such amazing movies that when he makes something really bad its just that much worse.
Anyway lets talk about Pelham, the obligatory big Hollywood summer blockbuster remake of an old classic.
Having not seen the original I was able to enjoy this movie for what it is, a silly summer movie.
First off, I love Tony Scott's style. No matter what anyone says about him his movies always look really cool and Pelham is no different. With its slick editing and cool colour palettes this movie is just really fun to watch. Like most Tony Scott films, the style over substance saying seems appropriate but in this case I don't really mind. Pelham isn't trying to revolutionize the thriller genre, neither is it trying to hard to seem smart. Small references to the recession make this movie current yet it never says much about the actual situation.
The best part of this movie is the characters, the acting isn't amazing but Travolta's crazy antics and Denzel's... "Denzel-ness" just make this movie. Travolta is just great as he spouts obscenities and single-handedly gives this movie its R rating. He seems like a regular gangster at first but we find out later that he's actually a genius market stock investor, which is ridiculous but forgivable because he;s so entertaining.
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Denzel plays the everyman stuck in a bad situation. For Denzel playing an everyman must be really hard because he's just so badass. He pulls it off pretty well and he and Travolta's interaction never seem forced. Although most of the movie stays true to its premise the ending of the movie kind of steers off into generic holy wood action movie territory with the obligatory car chase scene, face off between the two main characters and the Hollywood happy ending. This disappointed me a little bit but not enough to ruin the entire first half of the movie for me which I found quite good.
Worth seeing for some cool sequences and Travolta going fucking crazy! Mother fucker!
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