The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

** – I’m not a film scholar and I don’t know a lot of camera/direction jargon, so the type of shot I’m going to describe next certainly has a name that I don’t know. It’s the shot where there’s a central focus point and the camera just moves around it in a circle or semi-circle. Like I said, I don’t know what it’s called, but I’m renaming it the ‘Tony fucking Scott’ in honor of its ridiculous overuse in “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3”, his 2009 remake of a 1970s thriller. This shot is used in conjunction with lightning fast edits, constant panning and zooming, and loads of jump cuts, all of which are hallmarks of a Tony Scott film, the man that I am now convinced is the worst director in the industry that unexplainably continues to get offered high-caliber projects. I can’t think of a movie that he has directed that has been improved in any way by his involvement. To make matters worse, John Travolta – whose career peaked in the mid-90s and has dropped precipitously since - is the co-lead in this along with Denzel Washington. In his role here as a train hijacking ex-Wall Street broker with goofy-looking neck tattoos and an overly groomed goatee he overacts to the point of chewing scenery like there’s no tomorrow. This movie might have been decent had the direction not been truly nauseating and Travolta’s camera muggery was toned down to an acceptable level. But seeing as that is not the case and the duo conspired along with an unnecessarily testosterone-emitting script to ruin yet another film, I am seriously considering starting a petition to see Tony Scott and John Travolta banned from the film industry. Are you in?