Aug 31, 2009 12:08 PM
1649 Views
Been in delhi and happen to be in saket, I went to the pvr to see what was on, only interesting cast was in this movie the taking of pelham 123.
The film, begins in a busy subway station, the familiar hustle and bustle of new york apparent from the start. We are sucked into the movie, where everything is fast, noisy and chaotic. ‘Pelham 123’ – the name of a subway train, on its usual route carrying hundreds of anonymous passengers to their destinations.
Ryder/ Travolta, the film’s villain has undertaken the task of hijacking a subway carriage. In no time at all he has punches a train driver in the face, shoots a man and demands ten million dollars from the Mayor of the city.
All of this is relayed to the subway dispatcher and the hero Garber/Denzel Washington, who negotiates with Ryder in order to save innocent lives, everyone, according to Ryder, is guilty of one thing or another, and it is perhaps this premise that provides the film with its main source of tension. Indeed, director probes the audience’s consciences by calling into question the moral of each of the characters, regardless of their position in society. The film’s central characters are all guilty of a crime, be it personal, political or financial; even Garber is implicated in allegations of bribery. No one, it seems, is safe from moral decay.
Ryder wants to posit himself as some kind of balancer of morals. ‘Everybody owes God a death’ he muses, before shooting someone without a hint of remorse. Ryder, despite his terrifying penchant for violence and cruelty, is charming. Fitting, therefore, that his past is firmly rooted in the Wall Street stock markets, allowing Scott the opportunity to make a well-timed comparison between stockbrokers and cold-hearted murderers.
But the biggest problem with the film was that there is no insight into the characters’ motives. We know hardly anything of the other hijackers’ aims and we are left to presume that they are merely subservient cronies whose purpose in life is to fulfill Ryder’s twisted goals, I found myself confused at the end of the film even with regard to Ryder’s obsession with money. What were his reasons for the hijack?
Why is he so pleased to see a host of zeros in his bank account? It is as if Ryder is a psychologically complex villain, for whom the acquisition of money is not of sole importance; and on the other hand a greedy businessman whose motive is the acquisition of wealth: the two personalities are left unreconciled by the director, but never the less the film is utterly gripping, manages to keep you hooked; the sweeping shots of Manhattan and use of Google street view camera work really are a spectacle. Its countdowns, plot twists and the soundtrack are real impressive.A real thriller.
