New to DVD and Blu-ray on January 11 is Tony Scott’s energetic remake of heist thriller The Taking of Pelham 123, which pits Denzel Washington and John Travolta in a psychological game of wits as a transport worker and train-jacker respectively.
John Travolta
Knowing (DVD)
Although Nicolas Cage is becoming increasingly in danger of following John Travolta down the path of over-bloated pantomime acting, he’s certainly still watchable enough to carry a film. And it’s thanks largely to him, and to some strong support from Rose Byrne, that Knowing has some backbone to go with its (admittedly, impressive) CGI overload and apocalyptic outlook. Unfortunately, however, he’s not sturdy enough to shoulder the film’s jaw-droppingly bad ending.
The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)
Derailed…
In the press notes for Tony Scott’s garish remake of the 1974 heist classic The Taking of Pelham 123 – itself adapted from the novel by John Godey – screenwriter Brian Helgeland states that his version gets under the skin of its central characters far more than either the original film or novel. To suggest that your adaptation may be better that its source is a bold statement indeed, and it’s immediately clear that Helgeland is way overstating the achievement of the film in character development. For while Denzel Washington’s performance showcases his usual, dependable breadth of human emotion, Travolta’s characterisation is about as deep and meaningful as a box of bricks.
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