Does anyone actually remember 1994 when "Pulp Fiction," and the return of John Travolta to our movie screens seemed welcome, almost like having an old friend back in town? Now, reviving Travolta's career seems like just one more thing we can blame on Quentin Tarantino, along with wrecking Uma Thurman's, and championing the torture scene in modern cinema.
As gangster Vincent Vega, Travolta displayed so much suave charm and effortless cool, it was hard to recall why he had mostly disappeared from the big screen in the first place. After that brief shining moment, though, Travolta's career soon devolved into that of a new Dennis Hopper (circa "Speed"), playing cartoonish bad guys in dreck like "Swordfish," "Broken Arrow," "Battlefield Earth" and "The Punisher."
In his latest take-the-paycheck-and- coast job, Travolta plays a subway hijacking baddie in "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3." Here he seems to be wistfully channeling his old "Pulp Fiction" costar Samuel L. Jackson, dropping so many f-bombs (of the m-f variety) that he comes off like a child who has just learned to say his first word.