When you look at some of the more recent cinema offerings, such as 2Fast 2Furious, Biker Boys; and the soon to be slated by this critic, Torque, you do begin to wonder whether it is humanly possible for a critic, or at least for me anyway, to actually enjoy a fast driving movie purely for the sake of it being fun. Of course I am not about to deny anyone the ability to drool with anticipation over Torque, but I am not going to pretend that the film looks fun in any way. The question is, is it possible for any film that consists solely of driving fast to attain that badge of honour that we have named so fittingly, fun?

As usual, leave it to the French to show the Americans how it's done (I think I just lost my entire WOT, with the exception of a few from the UK) with a film that retains enough of a quirky style to remain fun, without being a complete and total rehash of the most overused style in movie making history. It's not that Taxi focuses more on it's story, far from it. OK, so unlike the American blockbusters that I mentioned Taxi does contain some semblance of a story. It tells of a young Pizza delivery boy named Daniel who, like all French deliverers apparently, likes nothing more than driving fast and outrunning the cops. On his last day working their he manages to break some kind of record, and goes out with a bang before getting a new job as a taxi driver who likes nothing more than driving fast and outrunning cops. Meanwhile the Police are investigating a spate of robberies, and one particularly inept cop happens to jump into Daniels cab. By the end of the journey Daniel's licence is in this cops hands, who decides to use it as leverage to get Daniel to help him in tracking down the thieves.

Now, as I mentioned previously, the films plot is not exactly epic in it's scope, in fact what I just posted is literally all that is on offer. Yet there are other facets involved to making a film stand out, facets such as the often quoted fun which is quite possibly the easiest one to score with, and quite literally the one people most frequently miss with. The reason it is fun is because it is just that, fun. There's no heavy handed violence, no graphic blood spattered shootouts and no horrendous beatings. What you have is an old school action comedy, where a duo of characters banter their way through an investigation.

Samy Naceri and Frederic Diefenthal, who play the mismatched pair, share an easy going chemistry on screen, managing to perfectly time their actions in conjunction with the reactions of their partner, producing a partnership that, while never posing a challenge to the classics, manages to fit in with the likes of the Tucker/Chan partnership of the Rush Hour films.

Where Taxi stands out though, and let's face facts this is what you're really interested in, is in the spectacular action scenes. One in particular featured a shoot out with the police that, while more fun that the bloodier shootouts of American cinema, managed to rival Heat in terms of actual bullet usage. In car chases though Taxi exceeds anything I've seen to date. These scenes where Daniel drives fast, (either in a car chase, a race or even a Midtown Madness (videogame) style get a fare across town with minimal time) feature some of the best choreography I've seen in a driving film to date. The scenes manage to portray a feeling of genuine speed, leaving the audience member totally exhilarated even though it doesn't involve the levels of mass destruction that American audiences are used to.

Unfortunately, while the film does remain fun it also remains inherently flawed. Such as the writing, particularly the dialogue, or at least what the subtitles show, that I could easily describe as embarrassing if I chose to be kind. Not just that though, the entire script is surprisingly unoriginal considering the fact that it was written by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) himself, but unlike his earlier film he fails to add any emotional attachment to Taxi, which is something he usually brings to even his most intense popcorn munchers. However here, he provides the flattest of characters who learn to accept each other, but don't do anything for the film that we've never seen before.

Mind you, the script doesn't really go anywhere we haven't seen before. Using the traditional story of a police officer bringing in an unexpected outsider who has a skill useful to the investigation. It borrows entire scenes from such directors as Quentin Tarantino, who was already himself borrowing heavily from other films, Martin Scorsese and even Besson himself, and stylistically it borrows heavily from other films too. This heavy use of other peoples work ends up leaving a feeling of repetition, not like an artistically handled homage, but often a complete and total rip off.

Despite the films definite fun factor, these faults stand out and make it less fun, often slowing the pace down to less than comfortable levels, though the film never crawls, and so they end up effecting the overall score. However Taxi still deserves a recommendation, it remains fun in nearly every single scene throughout the film and Gérard Pirès's direction sees some deft choreography in the action scenes. Definitely a fun, though flawed title.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age