The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Tony Scott’s new thrill-ride, The Taking of the Pelham 123, starts off set to the music of Jay-Z’s “99 Problems.” I doubt the Deja-Vu director intended the song’s key lyric, “Got 99 problems, but a bitch ain’t one” to prove an upfront, accurate summation of the film; almost like a warning label for what unfolds over the unduly extended affair. While pitting Denzel Washington against John Travolta seems like a promising ride, Pelham’s plot and prose derails the film long before it reaches it’s intended destination. One curious theory picked up along the route, however, is that perhaps Travolta’s villain was homosexual. Maybe it’s simply the byproduct of a wandering critic’s mind during eye-rolling sequences, but the idea kept my attention better than Scott’s frantic cutting and music-video aesthetics.