Enjoyable film. Nothing special though. But worth a watch.
Liked it better than the original. Just because it's old, doesn't make the original The Godfather or The French Connection. I think it was a fairly average thriller for it's time. I don't consider the original to be a classic, so I don't mind it being done over. I did like the original ending better though (with the sneeze).
Travolata seemed like he was acting in a different movie, and I found his acting to be the weak link. Everyone else was nuanced and realistic, and he was hamming it up like mad. Shades of Battlefield Earth/Swordfish.
Denzel was terrific though. As usual. He rarely plays characters as mild mannered as this. Not a macho character at all. A nicely restrained performance. For the most part, his character is a bit of a pussy, but a resourceful one. He really lets you into his emotional state during the film, just by his looks and expressions. Unlike Travolta, whose "acting" consists of shouting a lot and saying mother f ucker repeatedly.
Also liked James Gandolfini a lot. Did a great job as the Mayor. John Tuturro was excellent as well. Nice cameo from Chris Partlow out of The Wire. Luis Guzman was criminally wasted.
The cast worked nicely for the most part, but Travolta put the whole thing off balance. Should have cast someone else in his role. Denzel could have played Travolta's part better as well, but I enjoyed seeing Denzel play a weaker, less forceful character than he normally undertakes.
But really, in what has been a pretty awful summer for movies, this is actually one of the better offerings of the summer movie output. Faint praise, but there you go.
