Not to be confused with the far superior 70s film The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three this is a perfectly passable remake (reimagining/new version of book/pick your own, see above) that reminded me of the Assault on Precinct 13 remake. Was it necessary? No. Was it as good as the original? No. Was it terrible travesty of filmmaking judged on its own merit? No. If fact here is a perfectly entertaining film with Denzel playing slightly different from his standard character; a solid script by the usually reliable Brian Helgeland that is actually (when you get beneath the concept and top layer) quite different in many ways from the 70s film; and James Gandolfini on dynamite form as a mayor who couldn't be a more different character than the mayor in the original.
In fact it is the differences in the characters that aids this version. The casting alone (Denzel in the Matthau role, Travolta in the Shaw) should have told us simply doing a like-for-like wouldn't work. This is in the The Thomas Crown Affair, Dawn Of The Dead, The Italian Job, Assault On Precinct 13 school of remakes - totally unnecessary but actually really quite fun and entertaining in their own right. They may not pass muster in direct comparison to the original (although i might give McTiernan an edge on Thomas Crown myself) but as a stand alone film for a bit of entertainment they are perfectly fine. I enjoyed Pelham much more than most of the "summer blockbusters" this year for a start.
So not a classic, and not a must see, but not a disaster and better than you might expect. The Denzel/Tony Scott pairing may never match their first collaboration - the excellent Crimson Tide - but i've yet to see one that didn't at least make me enjoy that couple of hours.
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