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Movie reviews The Taking of Pelham 123 
 
<strong>Movie Reviews</strong> this week looks at the suspense thriller The 
Taking of Pelham 123.

It stars Denzel Washington (Training day) as Walter Garber, as he puts it a 
"lowly public sector employee" looking after the trains that run through the 
intersections at New York, except this day he didn't know what he was getting 
himself into when he puts his socks on this morning.

It also stars John Travolta (Pulp fiction) as Ryder , straight out of prison 
and looking to for some kind of revenge on the City of New York. He and his 
accomplices Phil Ramos played by Luis Guzman (Traffic) and Bashkim played by 
Victor Gojcaj manage to hijack Pelham 123, so called because it arrives at 
Pelham at precisely 1:23 p.m. As Walter's job this day is operating the trains 
(it turns out he has been demoted penning an investigation if he took a bribe) 
so it is left to Walter to bargain with Ryder for the lives of the several 
passengers on board, while Ryder asks the City of New York via it's mayor 
placed pretty well by James Gandolfini (The Sopranos), it turns out Ryder wants 
$10 million dollars and one cent after making Walter calculate what the current 
rate is for the "commodities" on the train, Ryder says he wants $10 million 
dollars, Walter sarcastically asks him about the one cent, and he says Walter 
can keep it as a broker's fee.

In comes a special Hostage Negotiator Camonetti played by John Turturro (You 
don't mess with the Zohan), there is a particular well made scene, where Walter 
is told he has done a good job, while Camonetti takes over negotiating with 
Ryder, that leads to some disastrous consequences.

Walter is chased and brought back to negotiating per Ryder's request and as the 
two get to know a little about each other, Ryder asks why he is doing control 
work for the trains, Walter explains he has been demoted pending an 
investigation, what follows is a brilliantly shot scene, where Walter is made 
to confess in front of the Mayor, his boss, and all his colleagues that he did 
take the bribe, how he did it and what he used the money for, or else hostages 
would be killed, at first the audience is not sure if the confession was on the 
spur of the moment to save lives, but from Walter's expression it seems genuine.

This is a brilliant suspense thriller with the usual twists we have come to 
expect from movies where hostage negotiation is involved.

 
 Mr D Stevens is a reviewer at http://moviereviews.noskram.com/  <strong>Movie 
reviews</strong> 
 Keywords: Movie Reviews, film reviews, film review, movies, films, Movie 
Review, The Taking of Pelham 123, Denzel Washington, John Travolta, John 
Turturro, James Gandolfini, Luis Guzman, Victor Gojcaj, crime, thriller, 
suspense, hostage negotiator, hostage negotiating 
 Article contains 425 words

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