Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

It's a first-class ride. All aboard.

TV Guide Jason Buchanan

While director Tony Scott's brash and boisterous take on the material may lack that certain '70s quirkiness, it gets just about everything else exactly right.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Scott gets into the zip and rush of urban energy with an enthusiasm bordering on hilarity.

Variety Todd McCarthy

More than anything a fascinating portrait of how much New York has changed in 35 years, the film delivers the goods in excitement and big-star charisma.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

A fast and relentless hostage thriller that never stops.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Even at a distance from each other (Washington/Travolta), they conduct a tag-team master class in old-style movie star technique, barreling through every cliché and nugget of corn the script has to offer with verve and conviction. Even when you don't really believe them, they're always a lot of fun to watch.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Crisp supporting turns by John Turturro (as a hostage negotiator) and James Gandolfini (as the mayor) combine with plenty of vehicular mayhem to make this a superior diversion.

New Orleans Times-Picayune Mike Scott

Tony Scott pushes all the right buttons, crafting a worthy -- and in many ways, a superior -- update.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

The new "Pelham," although no classic, is a lot of fun if you're in the right mood.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Has all the usual virtues of a good action suspense drama, but it lacks that extra something - that context, that vital interchange - that made the original "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" such a memorable experience in 1974.

USA Today Claudia Puig

The new Pelham takes the chilling original premise and modifies it for an era steeped in technology, making for an energetic and engrossing adaptation.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Gripping and compelling, and doesn't make us wish we had checked our brains at the theater entrance.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

So professionally done you rarely have the luxury of taking your eyes off the screen.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

The film is thus more of a technical showcase than a human drama. It's diverting enough until it gets dumb, but so strong from the start is the certainty that dumb is on the way that you can't get too vexed when it finally arrives.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Whereas the original, directed by Joseph Sargent, was essentially a well-oiled B movie, the new incarnation, directed by Tony ("Enemy of the State") Scott, is bristling with high-tech gimcrackery and over-the-top camera flourishes.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The movie is slick, predictable and, thanks mainly to Washington's canny underplaying, fairly diverting.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

By itself, the new "Pelham" is a solid, suspenseful tale all over again, so long as it stays in the subway tunnels and airless offices of the transit department.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Washington offers another of his rock-steady performances, playing a career civil servant with a couple of secrets of his own, but confident, diligent, ready to go the distance for the city he loves.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

There's not much wrong with Tony Scott's The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, except that there's not much really right about it.

Time Richard Corliss

If Hollywood is going to remake a '70s movie, it might as well be Pelham, and it ought to work as competently as this one. But wouldn't it be nice, once in a while, for Hollywood to turn contemporary traumas into vigorous movies instead of hijacking the anxieties of the past?

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

Curiously, despite the ever-energetic Tony Scott at the throttle, the sleek new edition isn't as transporting as it should have been.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Yet most of the film's energy is generated by flamboyant cinematography and music-video cutting, and much of that energy is false.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Any chance to generate atmosphere or sustained comedy and melodrama goes down the tubes, often literally.

Slate John Swansburg

It's easy to imagine why Pelham's producers wouldn't want Scott's professional but dull picture to be compared with the 1974 classic.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

An efficiently engineered piece of studio product, enjoyable enough at times, but with an unmistakable assembly-line quality.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Just plain silly.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Watching this Pelham--a money job from its conception--you can believe that there's no other motivation on Earth.

Village Voice Jim Ridley

Scott's redo comes up short in almost every regard against the '74 model--against David Shire's knuckled-brass score, against its mugs' gallery of '70s New York character actors, against Peter Stone's serrated script, and certainly against its wordless punchline.

Empire Kim Newman

Pelham One was first class. Pelham Two stuck to the schedule. Pelham Three needs a bus pass.

Washington Post Philip Kennicott

If a few decent actors play their roles and defend their turf, it doesn't matter how preposterous the whole proposition is.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

Can a director be arrested for the attempted hijack of our emotions?

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Tony Scott’s bracingly awful remake/desecration of the classic ‘70s thriller.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Loud, abrasive, and featuring performances seemingly calibrated to be heard over the cacophonous roar of Travolta's mad, bad overacting.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Disposable crap.