In the New York subway, MR. BLUE, an olive skinned-man with a ragged beard sits, watching the early afternoon crowd come and go.
He watches people, focusing on various individuals as the next train approaches.
He settles on a young grad student and pushes her in front of the oncoming train.
As people scream, he pulls out an AK-47 strapped to his leg and shouts ALLAH AKHBAR! while he fires into the air, ensuring the subway station erupts into chaos.
Coolly, Blue exits, shedding his fake beard, reversing his coat, and removing the olive makeup, revealing pale skin below. Blue checks his watch 2:00. This is a man with a tight schedule.
At MTA headquarters, we meet ZACH GERBER, forties, slack-jawed, and not a big fan of authority, asleep at his desk, a cop for the MTA with nothing to do. He is jarred awake by an
office worker and saddled with responsibility of showing around a group of Chinese subway employees. The men follow as Gerber explains the ins and outs of the NYC subway system.
Minutes after the subway terrorist attack, police cars, crowds of onlookers, and news choppers swarm the area. We turn the exact opposite direction, where no one is paying attention
Mr. Blue, now with a mustache and horn-rimmed glasses, enters a new subway station. Little by little, we see pieces of a plan emerge as men dressed in similar disguises gather aboard the PELHAM 123: the aforementioned Mr. Blue, MR. GREEN, bushy gray-haired and sneezing, the stuttering MR. BROWN, and the sadistic MR. GREY.
The conductors, front and rear, prepare to move the train but are simultaneously held up by the men. The train lurches forward, passengers unaware that they will soon be hostages.
Back at MTA headquarters, Garber continues his tour, about to take the men into the control room, a usually calm and boring place, he tells the men; inside, its anything but. A passing officer, PETRONE, informs Gerber about the attack.
In the drivers compartment, Blue and Green stand with the front driver, DENNY DOYLE. Green asks Doyle if hes even been written up. Doyle replies that he has and explains the mistake he made; Doyle then asks if Green has been, to which he replies Yes. Twice, but before he can finish, Blue cuts him off with a glare, warning him to not share any more personal information.
The men eventually cut the front of the train from the rest of it, letting everyone but 16 passengers go 16 hostages.
At the MTA control center, Gerber and the man in charge of the rail system, CORRELL, watch Pelham on the track
monitors and wonder what is going on and why Pelhams driver wont respond.
Correll orders one of the workers down by the tracks to investigate Pelham a man named WUKOVITS responds.
Back on the train, Blue explains to the hostages that they are not terrorists, to which everyone gives a slight sigh of relief, but they are after money a lot of it and that they shoot them if they do not follow directions.
Back at the scene of the terrorist attack, swarms of troops sweep over the area suddenly, theres a small explosion.
NYC Police Departments Hot Room full of monitors turned to every news station,
computers, telephone lines, and run by CHIEF MIKE GIONFRIO. LINDA ESPOSITO, the Deputy Mayor, enters.
We find out the mayors on vacation in the tropics and predisposed, so Esposito is in charge, at least temporarily.
Back on Pelham, Mr. Blue contacts the command center over the microphone. Correll asks what has taken so long and Blue informs him: Your train has been taken. Correll cant believe it, so Blue repeats it. Correll asks if they are terrorists and Blue replies that they are not everyone is oddly comforted by this.
Blue explains the situation how they have hostages, weapons, and that their instructions must be followed to the letter or else.
Gerber snatches the radio and takes over this is what he lives for. He alerts Patrone of the situation and tells him to tell everyone.
Down below, Wukowits follows the path of Pelham, trying to figure out exactly whats going on.
On Pelham, Blue assures Green that by the time the authorities figure out whats going on, theyll be long gone. Blue then tells Green to go back to the passengers he doesnt want Grey and Brown alone with them. Green asks if he trusts them, and Blue says he trusts Brown.
Gerber calls back to Blue and attempts to negotiate. Blue chides Gerber for using simple tactics and warns him that hes read all the training manuals and doesnt want any BS. Gerber is caught off guard this guy is no ordinary robber. Blue says he knows the mayor is out of town and that the deputy mayor should prepare to get ten million dollars ready to deliver to them. They have exactly one hour and no one is to interrupt them or come near. If any of the plan is disobeyed the hostages die.
Gerber tries to figure out how to proceed when he realizes that Wukowits is on his way to the train
and hes out of radio contact.
Getting the ten million isnt going to be easy, and despite the difficult, Gerber finds out Blue refuses to budge on time.
Gerber convinces Esposito to get the money, but assures her he can get it back. At last, she agrees, but is there still enough time to get it to the men?
Pieces of the plan fall through shots are fired and some innocent people are killed.
The story and action are tight, especially with a climatic sequence with the money in the second act.
Gerber and Esposito have to buck authority who try to take the reins away from them and Gerber gets out of the office and into the action.
Very close to the original film, just sort of updated. And it retains the famous ending line.
