Taxi 3

The TAXI series (this is obviously the third installment) are highly successful French movies which for mysterious reasons are never distributed in USA (or at least in Miami).

Created and produced by the legendary and admired (ex-director) Luc Besson (you remember him from masterpieces like The Professional, La Femme Nikita, The Big Blue or The Fifth Element) he managed to create a mix of action and comedy, with some of ingenuous gags, some adults jokes and plenty of action (mostly car stunts) and very mild violence and overall VERY HUMAN.

TAXI 3 tracks Emilien's (the police officer) obsession to catch a gang disguised as Santa Claus with the help of Daniel (the nuts taxi driver) both trying to overcome their conjugal issues and the pregnancy of their wives. The story is very simple (as is the movie short), so everything rest on the characters (some of them very funny and some not so) and on the impressive stunts which are really very good and a lot more realistic than the computer generated car chases of Bad Boys II.

As I said before, it is really a pity this funny movies get no distribution here. Of course Hollywood can make things like this. Technically better probably but without the natural grace and believability of this very sympathetic group of actors.

Yes, it is funny but I am getting a little tired of watching the same thing the third time around. I like the first one because it was fresh and different... But, Taxi 3 is just a copy of the previous 2 with a little new twist... I hope there will be no Taxi 4 coming out any time soon...

The third chapter in the “Taxi” series is a definite step down from the second. Director Gérard Krawczyk and screenwriter Luc Besson have managed to introduce some new elements to the franchise (a pre-credits Stallone cameo, a Bond-style title sequence, a gigantic 4 X 4 crashing everything on its path, bank robbers disguised as Santa Clauses, future parenthood, the action moving to the Swiss Alps in the last 20 minutes and Daniel's taxi functioning as a snowmobile, etc.) to justify making this sequel. However, Besson's script remains very thin (the film barely fills up 83 minutes, long closing credits included), and the absence of a climactic set-piece is especially disappointing. The characters still have appeal, and the introduction of exotic beauty Bai Ling is a plus; on the other hand, those expecting Emma Sjöberg to get involved in the action in the same way she was in "Taxi 2" should forget about it: her character is already 8 months pregnant as the movie opens. (**)

The best thing I can say about this movie is that it made me laugh. Some of the jokes and scenes were easily on level with the first two movies. Add to that healthy chemistry between the two leads and you get all the ingredients needed for a good buddy-cop movie.

Unfortunately, Besson simply fails to string these bits and pieces into a coherent whole. Bad guys are the repeat from the second part, only without kung-fu and cool cars (pretty stupid decision for a movie targeting car enthusiast), and their plans and actions are complete nonsense. The whole plot seems to be there just as an excuse to throw in a bunch of obvious self-references, lame cameos (Sylvester Stalone as a secret agent?) and extreme sport mix-tapes (Besson's latest fetish, it seems).

Action scenes are the final nail on the coffin. The Taxi series never had really spectacular car chases (the closest they came was the Paris scene in Taxi II), but they at least HAD some chases. Here, it's all bikes, monster-trucks, roller-skates and skis. Daniel's taxi performs several stunts and grows a few more SF accessories, but it doesn't really have much to work with, given the opposing arsenal.

Overall, the movie has some funny bits (even more if you speak French), but the rest of it was pretty disappointing.

Taxi 3 : Here is a film that bears well its name : Yes absolutely it is the THIRD sequel of the same track race between the foreign Wicked bandits and the dumb French police helped by the turbo-charged taxi driver. After 2 attempts, you might expect a bit of "ageing" and maturation of this eye-catching concept, well except the the fun credits at the beginning and the surprise appearance of Mr Stallon himself, there is nothing really new :

• a simplistic story-line - a demagogue & super-caricatural description of the French police - a crude humor - not so impressive track race - action scenes with barely no action - pityful dialogues - actors who are never really exploited - no surprise happy ending

Apparently Mr Besson wanted to make a comedy that does not take itself seriously : well if you are not too hard to please concerning the subtlety of the humor you might get a satisfaction but it's not enough to save this farce because the supposed action scenes are nothing more than boring and uninspired. Furthermore, the grotesque is too serious not to be taken seriously. So you are left with the story, but it the carbon copy of the precedents except that the Chinese have replaced the Japanese and the Germans as the shrewd bandits...

It's a pity that Mr Besson the producer/writer does not have the same standard of excellence as Mr Besson the director. This film could have been a funny piece of popular entertainment but it was too botched up to live up to this title.

To sum up : a ludicrous popular comedy made of crude gags + no action action scenes in the wake of the worn out Taxi series. (4 out of 10)