Short on actual plot, expecting more of a character driven movie and early on it appears to go in that direction.
The rest is all action, car crashes and shoot-outs take place, the car crashes coming within a sloppy scene where the police travel by motorcade to deliver the money and the shoot-out starting from a rat crawling up a guy’s leg of all things.
Both feature no important characters and situations that are manipulated.
The finale comes before you know it, 
a chase through the streets of NY that’s more exciting because it makes more sense… , and Tony Scott, despite using clichés like counting down the clock and going into slow-motion, keeps the movie gritty and fast-paced. – super!
Denzel Washington stars as New York City subway dispatcher Walter Garber, whose ordinary day is thrown into chaos by an audacious crime: the hijacking of a subway train.
John Travolta stars as Ryder, the criminal mastermind who, as leader of a highly-armed gang of four, threatens to execute the train’s passengers unless a large ransom is paid within one hour.
As the tension mounts beneath his feet, Garber employs his vast knowledge of the subway system in a battle to outwit Ryder and save the hostages.
but there’s one riddle …. magic