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Taxi (1998/I) More at IMDbPro »

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101 comments in total

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35 out of 43 people found the following comment useful :-
A great film all round!, 5 December 2002

Author: chalkoutline from England

In my opinion this is the one of the best mainstream French movies in a long while. I know that for many of us subtitled French movies are not regular choices. The film didn't break any UK/USA box office records (presumably as people were put of by its subtitles and french origins) which is a real shame. Well why should you give this one a try? Here goes...

The movie was written and produced by Luc Besson, director of such films as Leon (aka The Professional in the USA), The Fifth Element (with Bruce Willis), Kiss of the Dragon (with Jet Li and Bridget Fonda) and Nikita (aka La Femme Nikita in the USA).

The story follows Daniel, a moped pizza delivery guy who has worked to fulfill his dream of becoming a Marseilles taxi driver. He has tuned and tweaked his own taxi into something a little special... something a little out of the ordinary... I don't want to give the game away so I'll leave it there!

The film is a fast paced thrill ride that crosses the boundaries of action, comedy, romance, farce and buddy movie amongst many other genres. The characters are likeable, the humour is quick and snappy and the driving is fast and furious (some of the best chases seen on screen for a few years). After a short while you barely realise that you are reading the subtitles. The storyline may not be particularly original but it is well executed overall. The soundtrack is funky and fits in perfectly with the film.

It's not Shakespeare, but it never sets out to be Shakespeare. So if you are looking for a nicely shot film, suitable for just about anyone, give it a try.

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23 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
Cool, Clean, Comic, Car Caper on Crack!, 3 December 1999
Author: RICH! from Sheffield

Why do people take films such as this SO seriously. Besson doesn't have to make the same film every time, he might want to do something for a laugh at some point, and that's what he's done here. The film is COOL to the maximum from the setting to the acting to the location to the soundtrack. It is a well rounded little baby of a film that Besson has knocked up in his spare time and just proves what an all round top bloke he is. Go see this film with an open mind and you can't fault it simple easy clean storyline lets the movie flow and move easily and when you stack on the petrolhead action on top of the layer of humour (which was okay) and put between good start sequence and highly amusing plot ending bread, you've got a veritable good movie sandwich. Once again French film is proven to be quite brilliant. Give this to some blockbuster US outfit and they'll create some half-assed dross that feels like walking through bubblegum. Instead its quick, slick and an all round top flick. Only the Italian Job comes close.

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26 out of 31 people found the following comment useful :-
Proves that the French just do it better., 20 December 2003
Author: dmc102 from Belfast, Northern Ireland

This movie is fantastic. It is simply an all action car chase romp set in the French city of Marseilles. The acting is highly convincing, the direction is fresh and modern and the film is easily the best car movie in years. Followed by two sequels, the film makers have kept the film very French without resorting to American-style CGI effects or bland super star actors. As a French speaker, I watched the film in its original language with subtitles in english incase I got lost. I would recommend watching the film in French to everyone, it's much better than the dubbed version. One of France's biggest films of the modern years, let's hope they keep the sequels rolling on!

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18 out of 22 people found the following comment useful :-
Fast & Funny, 26 July 2001
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

A light film - the comedy is refreshingly simple and not slapstick style. Also the car chases are mostly pretty simple and not full of the excesses of Hollywood movies where everything MUST crash and everything MUST blow up in big style.

It's got style and it's got speed.

What more do you want?

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17 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
Pedal to the metal..., 21 May 2005

Author: Mr Ben from Hampshire, England

You know how remakes will always be inferior to the original? I still refuse to watch "The Ring" or its god-awful sequel on the grounds that I happened to catch the Japanese original "Ringu" first. Having said that, I watched "The Assassin" before I watched Luc Besson's "Nikita" so I'd probably prefer the Yankee one. Besson was one of my favourite non-American directors - "Leon" is one of my favourite films of all time - and although the great man was only writing the script, this feels very much like his film. Typically stylish, hugely commercial and still retaining enough Gallic charm to put most viewers off, "Taxi" is a mindless action thriller that is criminally under-rated in my opinion.

Daniel (Samy Naceri) quits his job as a pizza delivery boy to become a full-time taxi driver in his jumped-up white Peugeot in the sunny French port of Marseilles. Seriously, Mr Incredible has got nothing on this guy! Tragically, his short career of speeding like Satan himself around Marseilles lands him in trouble when an off-duty policeman (Frédéric Diefenthal) is picked up as a fare - the only cop who has caught Daniel. Desperate to keep hold of his wheels, Daniel is offered a deal by the cop - help him to catch fellow speed-merchants and professional German bank robbers the Mercedes Gang and the sissy cop can arrange to have Daniel's slate wiped clean. They soon form an unlikely partnership and Daniel grudgingly helps out his one-time enemy in order to get his licence back - and to stop his girlfriend (Marion Cotillard) walking out on him.

Sure, the story is as old as the hills but Besson and director Gérard Pirès have fashioned an exciting, humorous and contemporary film that still feels wonderfully silly but never any less entertaining because of it. The script is dotted with witty lines (albeit subtitled if your French is as rusty as mine) and curiously Gallic insults and metaphors that build, rather than wreck, the film's appeal. The driving scenes are superbly shot and really hit the mark - I suspect that the makers of "The Bourne Identity" watched this a few times! Acting is somewhat more varied - Naceri and Diefenthal make a pretty good team, playing off each other for laughs as well as for the requisite thrills and spills. Cotillard looks fabulously sexy as does Emma Sjöberg as the long legged German cop with a strictly un-uniform leather miniskirt. "Taxi" can be quite old-fashioned in its portrayal of female characters - the good looking ones are introduced with slow moving full length body shots! In fact, the whole thing harks back to a different era of film-making when thrillers weren't confusing, comedies made you laugh and action films actually made you gasp in disbelief.

"Taxi" is easily the best French film I've seen for some time and is so much better than the cursed Hollywood remake that it's hard to believe how much they cocked things up. My advice is stick with the original which is the surprise package, packed with humour and fast cars, sexy women and impressive action sequences. What more could you possibly want from an action film? Some things didn't quite make sense and the ending felt like a let-down but you can't have everything. If you don't mind subtitles and are prepared for something a little different then you'll probably enjoy this film as much as I did.

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14 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
Not much plot, but gob-full of jokes. See it!, 19 October 2004
Author: Pascal Harris from London, England

This is a very Gallic film indeed, but as a fan of French cinema - and of the French in general - I have to say that I enjoyed this film very much indeed. The plot is, I admit, weak in places. That doesn't matter though - this film isn't about cerebral entertainment, it's about car chases and jokes, and humour is something the French do very well. The car chases are spectacular - and far better, for my money, than the car chases featured in Gone in 60 Seconds, The Matrix Reloaded or The Fast and the Furious. Hollywood could do a lot worse than look over the Atlantic to see how car movies are made. Unfortunately, it now seems that they have but I didn't mean that they should copy the French, they need original ideas, but they also need to imitate the French flair. The jokes come thick and fast, and had me howling with laughter - it takes a lot of humour for me to forgive an absence of plot - this film has it in spades. So there you have it. Ignore the American rip off. Watch the original. You won't regret it.

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13 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Nice French action comedy, 3 May 2004

Author: rbverhoef (rbverhoef@hotmail.com) from The Hague, Netherlands

Written by Luc Besson (director of 'Léon' and 'The Fifth Element') this French film is funnier and with better action than most American blockbusters. It tells the story of Daniel (Samy Naceri) who starts as a taxi driver. He is an excellent driver but he never rides by the rules. With the police his taxi is famous, although they have never caught him or even seen a license plate. One day Daniel takes a woman Camille (Manuela Gourary) to her home and she says she will keep his card to call again. She does when her son Émilien (Frédéric Diefenthal) needs a ride. Daniel, who thinks Émilien works with IBM, of course disobeys all the rules and at the end of the ride Émilien reveals his true identity.

Fortunately for Daniel the police has some trouble with a Mercedes-gang. Bank robbers who even inform the police before they rob a bank, with a Mercedes as the getaway car. Since Daniel knows much of cars he can help Émilien solve the case and keep his drivers license. Émilien desperately wants to solve this case because he wants to impress Petra (Emma Sjöberg), the girl he is in love with but always looks down on him. Daniel agrees since his driving is his life. He has to miss a lot of quality time with his girlfriend Lilly (Marion Cotillard) for this.

I agree with you if you say the story sounds familiar. That part is not very original although it has some original touches. Daniel, for example, was a pizza delivery boy before he started his job as a taxi driver and the early scenes that deal with this fact are a lot of fun to watch. But the story is not what 'Taxi' is about. It is about funny moments and some good action. I have to admit there are plenty of funny moments, every scene between Daniel and Lilly is terrific, the action looks good and the cinematography for this kind of movie is perfect. Although the character of Daniel can get on your nerves, a little too much of a wise guy, Samy Naceri does a nice job portraying him.

In the end I enjoyed this movie very much. The clichés and simple choices sometimes (the bad guy grabs his gun the minute Émilien reveals himself as a police officer who wants to ask some questions) can not spoil the fun the movie has, and therefore the audience. Don't expect a 'Lethal Weapon' but it is not that far from it.

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14 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
A breath of fresh air, 10 September 2001

Author: Justine Forrest (justine_3@hotmail.com)

I normally avoid action films and car chases bore me, but I watched Taxi on a friend's recommendation and have to say that it is one of the best films I've seen in a long time. Everything about it is pure class which may be something to with it being French. The premise of the film is beautifully simple - a speed-freak taxi driver Daniel and an inept policeman have to work together to catch some bank robbers. The relatively trivial nature of their mission is the perfect vehicle (excuse the pun) for the ever-so French humour of the script. They aren't out to save the world or stop evil for the good of all mankind (as is too often the case in American action films), but both want to stop the criminals for their own purely selfish reasons. In this setting the witty banter of the heroes is perfectly natural, especially compared with the cliched one-liners said in the face of doom found in most films in this genre.

A mismatched pair of heroes is pretty much standard in action films (Lethal Weapon being the most famous case), but here is works well as they manage to be more than just stereotypes and are believable even if their circumstances aren't. Both characters come across as real people, flawed, but likeable, especially the roguishly charming Daniel.

Despite being an action film, special-effects are kept to a minimum and although they are a large part of the film, the high speed car sequences are never self-indulgent, peppered with humour and brilliantly directed so as to hold the attention of even of the most "seen it all before" viewers (i.e. me).

All in all a refreshing change from Hollywood comedy or action films and one which I would happily watch again and again.

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11 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
I just love the car scenes., 15 September 2001
Author: martymaster (martymaster@hotmail.com) from Fredrikstad, Norway

This movie has some of the best car scenes ever filmed. The thing that make them so great is that they are filmed on the road in citys and not on closed racing tracks.Not only the driving is superb,but the way it is filmed just makes you wanna stand up and shout "bravo".

The down side of the movie is that it has a very bad plot and some boring scenes.But it is all worth it when the car scenes come. The dialogue is sometimes very funny and so is the french police.

So if you like fast cars and incompetent police officers then this is the movie for you.

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16 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
A most excellent film..., 3 May 2006

Author: cooper-dale from United Kingdom

I bought this film by accident, not realising it was French, and when I did I just stuck it in a cupboard and thought I'd pass it off onto someone else. Some months later I actually open it up and stick it in, thinking I'd may as well see what I'd bought.

I am VERY glad I did, this film is excellent, and put me onto the path of discovering foreign cinema by starting at the best. Sure it may not have the high budget thrills that Hollywood seem to think are necessary in such films but for breathtaking action and some hilarious comedy moments Taxi is amazing. Filmed on location for a lot of it, there are some stunning shots of Marsielle, the marina and countryside etc.

So for brilliant action, comedy, and a fair bit of sexiness, Taxi is an ideal film. Tres bon!

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