The Taking of Peham 1 2 3

Release Date (UK) - 31 July 2009

Certificate (UK) - 15

Country - USA

Director - Tony Scott

Runtime - 121 mins

Starring - John Travolta, Denzel Washington

Travolta plays Ryder, seizing a train and taking the passengers hostage with demands of a 10 million reward within the hour. To add tension to this basic heist plot he has also threatened to kill a passenger for every minute that the money is late. Denzel Washington is Walter Garbel, a New York subway official under investigation for taking a bribe so has been relegated back to a train dispatcher on the day that Ryder takes the train so he is the voice that Travolta speaks his demands to.

The direction is pretty poor as the plots flicks between scenes on the train and in the subway office with far too many overhead city shots in between to buff it out. The script lacks authenticity when it really needs it, especially in the phone calls between Garber and his wife. But mostly Tony Scott's use of camerawork makes you feel almost dizzy with extreme over stylization using blurred shots, speeded up sequences, and 360 degree pans. The best scenes are those with the New York Mayor, where the script finally provides something passable in the form of some funny one liners delivered well by James Gandolfin.

Unfortunately this film adds nothing new to the heist movie genre, so its predictable and for me boring. For fans of Travolta or Denzel then this film is a good watch for plain solid performances but there's not really any variation on their normal persona's. As pure action entertainment this film delivers - the tension is well built but there aren't many fight or explosions and with this focus on tension with repeated clock shots and time titles it feels like Scott is trying to appeal instead to the drama genre audience. Whichever this film is its nothing special or unseen in either.