Time spent in the dark with Denzel Washington is never a waste.

The two-time Oscar winner seems constitutionally incapable of turning in a bad performance, and he and John Travolta make "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" a very respectable popcorn movie.

"Pelham" is based on the same John Godey novel that inspired the 1974 subway thriller starring Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw. The original actually holds up well, with a criminal choosing a fate worse than arrest and another sealing his destiny with a sneeze.

In the new movie, Washington is Walter Garber, a New York City subway dispatcher who finds himself negotiating with hijackers who have taken over a subway train. Ryder (Travolta) is the ruthless ringleader of the gang of four holding a carload of passengers hostage and demanding $10 million to free them.

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'The Takig of Pelham 1 2 3'

2 1/2 stars = Average
Ratings explained

• Starring: Denzel Washington, John Travolta
• Rating: R for violence and pervasive language
• Web site: http://www.sonypictures.com.au/movies/thetakingofpelham123/

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The clock is ticking, literally and figuratively, with the city of New York given an hour to produce the cash or risk Ryder making good on his threat to start executing passengers.

The same questions that electrified the first movie course through this one: Will the mayor (James Gandolfini, in a small but nifty turn) approve the payment? Can the city get that much cash and deliver it in less than an hour? And even if the hijackers get their ransom, how can they escape without capture or detection?

Garber's character gets a back story that was nowhere in the original movie, and Ryder isn't just a cold-blooded mercenary, as Shaw's Mr. Blue was in the '74 version. Both of those new kinks in the story, courtesy of screenwriter Brian Helgeland ("L.A. Confidential," "Mystic River"), update and invigorate the plot, although they're not fully fleshed out.

The action thriller strikes out when it suggests that the tentacles of technology can easily reach underground, and the movie features one of the most idiotic questions that an insistent girlfriend has ever asked a boyfriend. Too bad she's not on the train.

Tony Scott directs with his trademark tricks and style, slowing the motion down, dramatically blurring images and sometimes sending the camera circling in dizzying fashion. No one will ever accuse him of falling prey to claustrophobia or stasis on screen.

"Pelham" shot in the actual tunnels, re-created the nerve center on a soundstage and even built a subway car from scratch to accommodate cast and crew. Travolta has the flashy, fun role (he should do villains more often), but in the end, "Pelham" is like a warm summer day -- enjoyable but not especially memorable.