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Disclaimer – We actually paid to see the movie. But I know some of you didn’t, so without giving it away for others, here’s what you missed because of the crying baby or the person that stood up in your copy.
This weekend, we checked out The Taking of Pelham 123, the latest movie featuring Denzel Washington and John Travolta. Overall, we were very pleased. This movie was mostly fast paced, offered a good amount of action, and was pretty well acted. And while we do these reviews to point out the performances of black actors, let me tell you now that John Travolta was good…damn good!
In this remake of the 1974 film, Denzel Washington (Garber) plays an MTA dispatcher who has been demoted from his executive level job pending an ethics investigation. He happens to be on shift when John Travolta (Ryder) and his gun toting army take over a subway train full of passengers. Ryder takes a liking to Garber and refuses to speak to anyone else, which draws Garber into the middle of the negotiation. We do not want to give away any more of the plot. We would, however, like to point out some inaccuracies in the movie.
First, where in the world can I find these trains? They were clean…super clean! No graffiti at all! Second, not once did I see someone come through the train selling batteries or asking for money to feed the homeless. Lastly, and what I find most shocking, no street performers. No break-dancers with a crowd. No saxophone player. No singers performing the classics…nothing.
Back to the review. Denzel gave the strong performance that you can always count on from him, but it was also his typical Denzel role. Other black actors in this movie include Gbenga Akinnagbe (Chris from The Wire) and Aunjanue Ellis (Ray).
At the end of the day, we give this one a 3.9 out of 5 afros. But they were big Afros, like ?uestlove from The Roots afros. You should definitely check it out, but if you can catch it during a matinee, even better.
What did you think???? (You must sign in on our home page to leave comments.)
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