Taxi 4

The fourth and last (so far) entry in the long-running "Taxi" series is a mild disappointment. There are few car-chase-and-crash thrills, and lengthy talky passages have taken their place. Instead of a climactic chase, we get a belated "Scarface" parody. However, the enduring appeal of these characters, some good laughs ("Yes, the Belgian confessed everything. We used the opportunity to close a few other cases, too!"), and a fun cameo for football (soccer, for Americans) fans at the start help keep this sequel painless. One of its best points by far is the return of Emma Sjöberg as Petra. In this one, she goes undercover as a brunette, and she reminded me of Jennifer Garner in one of her "Alias" disguises. In fact, considering her Amazonian looks and matching fighting abilities (briefly shown here, but showcased better in "Taxi 2") it's a wonder that her film career basically consists only of this series and a Dennis Rodman vehicle. (**)

In 1998 taxi pizza delivery guy Daniel became a taxi driver. One that made the streets of Marseille a dangerous place. Emilien, a cop, was there to work against him, and later with him, in pursuit of a gang of bank robbers. This film was fast paced, had a high comedy factor, insanely fast chase scenes and a compelling story. Two sequels were made. Part II was good, part III was OK.

Now, Daniel and Emilien return to the screen once more. The story picking up where part III left of - both have a son. The rest of the storyline is continued as well, for the most. Which also means most of the characters from the earlier films return too. The fast paced action is there too, just not in the same amounts as the earlier films. And that's where the painful truth lies. The cow has been milked empty - Taxi 4 is an insult to the first film. There was in total about 15 minutes of worthy film material in this one, and all the rest was rehashed, and badly at that, old material.

Anyway, the story in short: more adventures in Marseille with a fast taxi and a slow cop. But not as good as the previous ones, and hopefully the last in the series. The steady decline in quality after the first one is painful to the brain.

4 out of 10 cops run of the road.

Taxi 4 is great! It is so light, so optimistic, so unabashed and so well done that leaves only good impressions. Usually, the sequels and moreover all other continuations do not work out, but this did it. 91 minutes of the film fly so quickly that at the end you need more of this merry, funny, witty work. All the beloved heroes are here – silly Police Chief with all his crazy ideas, pot-smoking Rasta cop, slightly slow Afro-American cop, and then, the excellent trio of main heroes – Mr. Taxi Driver, Daniel; clumsy and sluggish Emelienne and then his super wife, Petra. This trio holds the whole film well, but then without all the secondary characters it also would be impossible to make this movie so good. The Belgian criminal, slightly stupid gangsters, terribly inept policemen, shoot-outs, chases, fights, drugs, football – everything is mixed up and served so hot, so immediate, so tasty and so refreshingly funny. This is a great example that Part Four sometimes may be very good.

After a prologue where taxi driver Daniel helps football star Djibril Cissé get to the stadium just in time for his first match in Marseilles we get to the main story. A Belgian criminal, known as 'Le Belge' is to be held in Marseilles as he changes plane on the way to his trial in the Congo. Not surprisingly things go very wrong. Le Belge manages to persuade policeman Emilien that he is actually an attaché at the Belgian embassy and that the real criminal escaped before boarding the plane to Marseilles. Once released he takes Daniel's taxi to freedom. Emilien is sacked but with Daniel's help he works to recapture Le Belge with the help of Daniel.

It must be said that for a 'Taxi' film this is somewhat lacking in the series' trademark high-speed action; thankfully it is still hilarious... of course humour is subjective but I enjoyed it so much I laughed till it was hard to read the subtitles! The humour was delightfully silly; a police chief shooting himself with a tranquiliser; a criminal in a leather gimp suit and a protagonist fails to recognise his wife just because she was wearing a wig. The cast does a solid job with most of the regulars returning, although Marion Cotillard is no longer present. Overall I'd recommend this to fans of madcap comedy; just don't expect the high speed hijinks of the previous films.

These comments are based on watching the series in French with English subtitles.

If you loved Taxi 1 & 2, but weren't too impressed with Taxi 3, then you may not want to bother seeing Taxi 4, (called T4XI in France), as it may upset you to see what has become of the crazy, cool, action packed and funny, original classic. Sure, the whole gang are all there, but unfortunately the action isn't. There must have been less than 20 minutes of decent chases, crashes and other action in the entire movie, and the gags and humor were getting a little tired after the 3 previous movies. I didn't hate the movie but I wished I'd spent my money on something else once I discovered it paled into insignificance compared to the original. I'm not sure what Luc Besson was up to, or was on, when making this movie, but I find it interesting that there's a new 'mobile internet' website for finding taxis on your mob phone with the exact same name, ( t4xi.mobi ), and that on you-tube right now there's ' T4XI ' video clips all over the place! Whether this is some last minute attempt to cross market or boost ticket sales, I don't know, but it's interesting to note that the t4xi.mobi site appeared at almost the same time as T4XI, the movie. Hmm... Could be marketing, but could be just coincidence. It's so hard to tell nowadays! Anyway, after seeing Taxi 4, I was thinking that maybe I'd just out grown that sort humor, but no, it wasn't that at all. It was just plain b- ! I can't bring myself to say that 3 letter 'b' word, not of Luc Besson, so I'll just say it was lacklustre! I really think T4XI has taken its last ride!