MovieChat Forums > The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009) Discussion > John Travolta's performance

John Travolta's performance

posted 14 years ago by drjimmyjam
41 replies | jump to latest

Travolta's 'Ryder' was a spoilt whining, winging, little infant in need of a bitch slap or two in comparison to Robert Shaw's Superior, thorough, intelligent 'headmaster' type of villain. Wow. If your villain/antagonist whatever just shouts and acts impatiently throughout the whole damn film, then he's not in control. We need to feel he's in control of the situation as it 'ups' the danger, and makes it less likely the hero will prevail, which makes a good ending so rewarding when he inevitably does. This is BASIC *beep* I like John Travolta, but on the evidence of this tripe, he needs to retire.
Shame.

[–] TwoCoreysRiverPhoenixFever 14 years ago

I'm watching it now and i have to disagree, I think John Travoltas just as good as ever in this movie. Probably one of the best performances I've ever seen John do.

[–] drjimmyjam 14 years ago

NO dude. Saturday Night fever? Pulp Fiction? Come on...

[–] TwoCoreysRiverPhoenixFever 14 years ago

Haha, well I love John Travolta. He's been great in everything I've seen him in. Can't fault him at all.

[–] drjimmyjam 14 years ago

BOO, you can't give up THAT easily?!

[–] jstang411 14 years ago

Probably one of the best performances I've ever seen John do.

Say he didn't mail it in, but that's a huge stretch. Not a good showing by Denzel either, which leads me back to the director and writers.

[–] alvaro-jneto 14 years ago

Yeah, we've seen those sorts of villains before, all the time.

Just because he was shouting doesn't mean he wasn't in control, that's what the whole movie showed.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] ssttyyllee 14 years ago

when Travolta says m$%the^ f$^k%r, he is not beleivable. He cant pull it off

[–] chefmetalguy 14 years ago

He was hamming it up. Big Time.

[–] surround_sound 14 years ago

exactly. he was trying to sound bad.

[–] sylvia67 14 years ago

my take is that Travolta didnt do anything "new" here, just the same crazy type that he played in Face Off and a few other films.. his acting was good but nothing original. Shaw was 10 times better.

[–] Zephyranthes1 14 years ago

I agree with OP and a few other that Ryder is a fxcking whiny little bitch. There have been great villains. He will never be one of them.

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[–] Don_Falone1985 14 years ago

Sorry you guys don't know what your talking about. How the hell is John travolta trying to be bad? He's already played a bad character in Face off and was brilliant in that role. John Travolta is a great actor who can play roles like this. I just think you obviously don't like John Travolta in general hence your negative comments.

[–] Zephyranthes1 14 years ago

In F/O he wasn't a whiny bitch.

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[–] zdnrg 14 years ago

And Zephyr knows all about whiny bitches, seeing as how he is one.

[–] Zephyranthes1 14 years ago

And zfngr knows all about whiny bitches, seeing as how he is one.

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[–] rated337 13 years ago

I agree, John Travolta in this film has a bad guy was not believable. I mean all he did thru the whole movie was curse and say the "F" word every other word. Cursing doesn't make you a bad guy, it seemed like he was trying to hard.

He's been a really good actor..not great but really good.
Saturday night Fever
Urban Cowboy
Pulp Fiction
Sword fish (Played the bad guy role well in this one, in control, smart and witty.

He needs to stick to other roles or choose the bad guy roles like the others. I guess if you need money then you need money.

[–] Ash-lee 14 years ago

I have to agree - I like Travolta, but you compare this character to the characters he played in Broken Arrow and Face-Off and it doesn't even come close. Although, to be fair, I honestly think that's the fault of the script. You can't drop a few dozen F-words and call it a day - there needs to be substance for the character and this script just didn't offer that.

[–] surround_sound 14 years ago

they made him a bit too likable in his connection with Garber perhaps so when he let loose it seemed a bit out of place.

[–] koffeenkreame41-1 11 years ago

I have to agree - I like Travolta, but you compare this character to the characters he played in Broken Arrow and Face-Off and it doesn't even come close. Although, to be fair, I honestly think that's the fault of the script. You can't drop a few dozen F-words and call it a day - there needs to be substance for the character and this script just didn't offer that.

^^This. I did like him in the film but it's nowhere as awesome as his work in Broken Arrow, Face/Off, hell even The Punisher. I also agree, there were a bit too many F-bombs from him.

"I am the ultimate badass, you do not wanna `*beep*` wit me!"- Hudson in Aliens.

[–] alvaro-jneto 14 years ago

First, I don't really think it was because of Travolta that his character came out the way it did, I would assume that the director would dictate how the character behaves. The actor does the execution only.

Second, I think it was brilliant. For the kind of movie that it was, a controlled loose cannon is not the norm at all. Travolta's character brought a little edge to the movie. I loved it.

[–] Valisun 14 years ago

I'm a fan of John Travolta but I was underwhelmed by his performance. I definitely do think its because he's slipping as an actor.

I thought his character was pretty one dimensional. Just a dude who had extreme rage issues so much that you can safely assume he's psychotic. But instead of that I wanted to see a psychotic....who would go into extreme bouts of rage. If you get the difference...

[–] hnt_dnl 14 years ago

Honestly, I liked Travolta in this over anything he's done in a LONG time!

[–] koffeenkreame41-1 14 years ago

I actually liked this movie. Denzel was great in here, that scene where he doesn't know if Ryder and his men are around him. He doesn't want to die, he starts tearing up as he reaches for the gun. Travolta was great in here, I agree he added an edge. What's so bad about how he said mother effer, remember how Nicholas Cage said Die in Face/Off?

"I am the ultimate badass, you do not wanna `*beep*` wit' me!" Hudson in Aliens.

[–] Desertman84 14 years ago

I like Travolta's performance.But definitely,it wasn't his best one.

[–] surround_sound 13 years ago

The issue is there is a perception that just because a character says mofo or has a mo, that he's immediately bada$$ and intimidating. anyway apart from some of the early delivery the movie turns out all well feeling like a throwback to the action movies of the 90s with updated cinematography.

[–] cyanide37 14 years ago

I loved Travolta's hamminess in this one. Ditto From Paris, With Love. He's never been a great actor by any stretch of the imagination, but he can be damn entertaining. I feel this is one of his more entertaining performances.

"What about Erica?" "It ate everybody, stupid!"

[–] Escarpe 14 years ago

Look I'm not Travolta fan but I'm much more inclined to blame the script, this movie in general wasn't nearly as good as the original. Robert Shaw was great but he had a lot more to work with, he was an ex British Soldier (at the time British Marines were thought of as some of the most Bad-Ass soldiers in the world) who brought all the discipline to the idea of the character and the role, he also demonstrated meticulous planning, Shaw did a brilliant job, but he had the guts of it on the page. You liked his character, even though he was doing something terrible you respected him. I'm not a Walter Matthau fan either but he was great in the original once again in large part because of the script. The original was very real for the time, the scenario was plausible, how they did it was plausible, the dialogue was plausible, this film wasn't. Sorry If I just ranted, I'm home sick and I just watched both back to back. And despite being made nearly forty years ago the original wins by a long way. Much better ending too.

"I'm in favor of taking dangerous weapons out of the hands of idiots, lets start with computers."

[–] gingersmurf 13 years ago

I loved him in this movie. He played the character very well.

Being middle-aged (ugh!), I have said time and time again that if ANYONE had told me back in the 70's that Vinny Barbarino would be one of the great film actors in the future, I would have laughed my ass off. It still boggles my mind.

[–] Crazy_Like_A_Fox 13 years ago

John Travolta isn't fit to lick Robert Shaw's boots.