Look at that poster. Doesn't it make you want to run out and see this movie? Me neither. Still, I try and see as many Denzel Washington movies as possible (as long as it looks like something's going on in them...reason I skipped Antwone Fisher), but this is a remake! How dare I spend money on...a remake! For shame! Eh, what can I say, Stephenstein is hard up these days for theatre fare.
Actually, this movie was pretty good. You have John Travolta demanding $10,000,000 (or basically the amount of money that Denzel has in his wallet at any given time...off-screen, that is) within an hour, and if he doesn't get it, he will kill people on the train he's hijacked. At the other end of the line, you have Denzel, and boy oh boy, does this man have problems. To tell the truth, this may be the first time I've seen Denzel Washington in a role where he was completely helpless...even in John Q, when he's doing the hostage negotiating with the police for his son's life, you get the idea, hey it's Denzel, he knows what he's doing. Not in this film though, and it's really interesting to see him play a floundering character. Travolta is charasmatic as he usually is in the bad-guy role (though he's gotten to the point where just screams motherf***** at the good guys, and that's supposed to be intimidating), and John Turturro supplies solid supporting work as the veteran hostage negotiator.
My gripes with this movie are a few plot holes (ummm...if the police are speeding towards a location with $10,000,000, what idiot is going to smash into their car? I mean seriously, you're telling me the motorcycle escorts with them couldn't have cleared the streets?) and the movie was predictable, including the ending which I won't spoil here, other than to reveal, surprise surprise, Denzel and John have a confrontation, with guns involved. Still, I think this was a pretty solid movie, with a decent mix of suspense and drama, so it's worth a peek, though you can probably get away with watching it on whatever souped-up home theatre system you may possess.
Rating 3.5 out of 5.
I bid thee a fond good night.
- Stephenstein
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