- Information:
- Title: (Taxi 3)
- Certificate: (15)(UK)
- Released by: (Optimum Home)(It should be noted that the releaser is different for the first two films)
- Run Time: (84 minutes)(PAL)
- Origin: (France)
- Language: (French)
- Subtitles: (Hard coded American English)(i.e. non-removable)
- Vintage: (2003: original) (2006: UK release)
Right I guess the first thing to say is that this is a follow-up to my reviews back in august of Taxi & Taxi2 which are two French comedy films from the brain of Luc Besson who is generally recognised due to his film “Leon” back in 1994 or to go back even further to his film “Nikita” in 1990. while Besson didn’t direct any of the Taxi films he did write and produce them, the Direction of Taxi 2 and Taxi 3 were left to Gérard Krawczyk(Wasabi) who is also directing the upcoming Taxi 4(Besson knows how to milk things…).
The cast as with the first two films has Samy Naceri, Frédéric Diefenthal and Bernard Farcy as Daniel Morales, Emilien Coutant-Kerbalec and Commissaire Gilbert respectively with Marion Cotillard and Emma Sjöberg as Lilly and Petra who are the unlucky girlfriend and wife of Daniel and Emilien respectively (again). Alain who is played onscreen by Edouard Montoute gets more airtime in taxi 3 than the character has gotten in the previous installations which in my opinion is deserved as he bring much needed Jamaican perspective to this comedy dance.
The Marseille Police are being outsmarted time and time again by thieves who call themselves the Santa Claus gang; they dress up as Santa’s while committing their crimes. One of the gang named Qiu(Bia Ling) disguised as a reporter infiltrates the police claiming to be writing an article on the French Police force, she works apparently for world international and is half-Chinese half Swiss. Emilien who is getting very little sleep due to the gang gets Daniel involved (Just like the first two films) and the two endeavour to solve the case with high-speed driving and mad modifications that would make the hardest of street racers cry. (Plot comes courtesy of Optimums DVD release with changes, many changes)
Apart from the main plot there are two main subplots revolving around Daniel’s and Emilien’s love lives, Lilly is generally sick of how far up his car is on Daniels agenda and promptly walks away leaving only a pregnancy test from Daniel to get worked up about. Petra on the only hand has already married Emilien but has been unable to tell him that see has been pregnant for the last eight months due to his obsession with the Santa Claus Gang.
There isn’t really much to say in regards to extra details as if this film has won any awards I can’t find information about it although one note worthy detail is that Sylvester Stallone appears in this film although unaccredited as “Le premier passager”, He appears to be a Bond-style spy of which that Bond theme is carried into the opening credits. These credits are a sort of comedy take on the classic Bond credits and feature the dancing ladies, which no opening credits would be without.
At this point of the review we get to my own opinions of Taxi 3 and I guess I will start by heading straight towards the subtitles, I know there technically not part of the film but for those that do not speak French they are really needed. I did criticise the second films subtitles for being transparent and dropping of the edge of my screen and I am happy to see this problem isn’t here as it’s returned to hard coded subtitles just like the original film had, the only issue with that is that if you do speak French you don’t have a choice but see those subs. The problem I have with this films subs though is that it is in American English which is just not good enough for a film that was translated in Paris; you would think that Parisians would be closer to using British English rather than the Yankee Facsimile that we are getting on this film? All right that is a relatively small problem but something that is still bugging me nearly a month after I first watched this film.
My opinion of this film is that it’s a good piece of entertainment and a damn sight better than anything Hollywood can throw out these days. I liked it for more than one reason; it’s funny to a European taste with a lot of good gags and laughs Hollywood’s boffins would never think about. The second reason is that like most of European cinema it has high production values which in Europe at least isn’t a buzzword for expensive effects but rather means proper cinematography and an interesting if unoriginal storyline. The third reason is that the music isn’t half bad which is bizarre as it’s mostly hip-hop/rap style, I think there is something about the French language which makes the most awful music show signs of life.
I think my favourite gag is when Alain goes into the middle of the road to commandeer a car to use, he shows his badge and in promptly run over by a car that won’t slow down (Not killed or injured). Gilbert wonders why the car didn’t stop and Emilien points out that Alain is Black and a Cop which he says means there is no chances of the car stopping, Alain says he is used to it. Now I Know to many people that might sound a bit racist but the point surly is that things like that still happen even though we are into the 21st century, personally I find its use both funny and serious at the same time. Still I don’t think that this film has enough or what I’d call “Substance” but it has shown more than the previous two so that all good.
The Film itself is a rather good and in my opinion is slightly better than Taxi 2 but not as good as the original, which leaves me with the problem as I rated the original as 6/10 and the second as 5/10 and I am only supposed to use full integers for the ratings. Ultimately, I think I have to award Taxi 3 a rating of (6/10).
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