Written by Luc Besson, TAXI is a fast-paced comedy thriller, in which former pizza delivery guy Daniel (Samy Naceri) embarks on a new career as a taxi driver in his specially-adapted high-speed car. Oblivious to his passenger's day job, he demonstrates his talents to police officer Emilien (Frederic Diefenthal) and consequently .. Read more
| Starring | Samy Naceri, Frederic Diefenthal, Marion Cotillard, Manuela Gourary |
|---|---|
| Director | Gerard Pires |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Comedy, World Cinema |
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Written by Luc Besson, TAXI is a fast-paced comedy thriller, in which former pizza delivery guy Daniel (Samy Naceri) embarks on a new career as a taxi driver in his specially-adapted high-speed car. Oblivious to his passenger's day job, he demonstrates his talents to police officer Emilien (Frederic Diefenthal) and consequently Daniel is forced to accept a new role as the personal driver of Emilien's police car. Soon Daniel is in over his head in an adventure that involves German bank robbers, a legion of pizza delivery boys, and much more.
| Starring | Samy Naceri, Frederic Diefenthal, Marion Cotillard, Manuela Gourary |
|---|---|
| Director | Gerard Pires |
| Studio | PRISM LEISURE |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 26 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Comedy, World Cinema |
| Language | DVD: French |
| Subtitles | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 14 Oct 2002 Production year: 1998 |
| Format | DVD |
The fancy automobile stunts are everything in this puerile, paper-thin comedy thriller scripted by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element). Speed-freak taxi driver Samy Naceri and timid cop Frédéric Diefenthal team up to catch a slick gang of bank robbers, leading to much squealing of tyres through the streets of Marseille. Had it been played seriously (à la Ronin), this might have been a cracker. Unfortunately, director Gérard Pirès adds feeble Carry On-style stabs at slapstick humour as the couple screw up the case and the bumbling Diefenthal attempts to woo a ludicrously statuesque police officer (supermodel Emma Sjöberg). Although the cars are turbo-charged, the script's battery is as flat as a pancake.
Written and produced by Luc Besson, this car chase caper would like to think of itself as a race-tuned Formula One... read more on Time Out
Ok, so I initially had doubts about this one. My French is a long way from perfect and I thought that would spoil the whole film if I was constantly staring at the subtitles. Not so! From start to finish I found this to be as captivating as any other film of the same genre of any language.
The plot is simple. There are bad guys in fast cars and our unlikely hero is needed to help the police capture them regardless of not actually having a drivers licence. The action is fast and the car chase/stunts are very well done. Unlike other car orientated films (Fast & Furious and so on) the plot isn't too serious and their is a good deal of humour to lift the story.
I found this to be a fast, fun and funny film - even though I didn't understand a word of it!
I could have watched this the whole way through if they hadn't dubbed it with stupid Vinny Jones-type voiceovers. It totally ruined it. And there's no way to even switch to subtitles because there's no option. If they'd at least got English speaking French actors to do the voice-overs it would have been better.