1. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is an efficiently reworked version of a tense, ticking-clock suspense story.
2. A professionally mounted genre exercise which tries to please both the thriller and social drama crowds and suffers as a result.
3. Travolta's high-tech 21st-century scheme turns out to be not just preposterous but superfluous, demented.
4. Despite the ever-energetic Tony Scott at the throttle, the sleek new edition isn't as transporting as it should have been.
5. Head-bangingly hyperactive as ever, action maestro Tony Scott appears to have upped his caffeine intake for this unexpectedly entertaining remake.
6. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is not a disaster by any means. For most of its running time, it's a slick, well-crafted piece of entertainment. But you can't help wondering just how good it might have been in the hands of a less self-advertising director.
7. All sound and fury, devoid of any relevance or resonance.
8. Unlike Sargent, who trusted his story to provide the fireworks, Scott resorts to gimmicks: choppy editing, speeded-up footage that segues inexplicably into slo-mo, and pointless explosions of noise. Sometimes, less really is more.
9. This is a post-9/11 city: terrorism is suspected, the cops are over-armed and trigger happy. Why they don't shoot Ryder when they could is unexplained.
10. Scott, a sensationalist who cut his teeth in advertising and still looks upon every minute of a feature film as a TV commercial, hits us from the opening shot with speeded-up film, rapid cutting, flash pans, and rap music.
What is the consensus?
Despite a strong cast, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 suffers under the excesses of Tony Scott's frantic direction, and fails to measure up to the 1974 original.