Taxi 4

I watched this movie with subtitles, having not seen the previous 3 films. I enjoyed the format, not knowing that previous episodes supposedly offered more/better car chases according to other commentators.

The Inspector irritated me, until I bought into the Pink Panther / Insp. Jacques Clouseau homage (http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=Pink+Panther&x=23&y=7) and "Silence of the Lambs" / Hannibal Lecter thing, then I just rode the wave of good humour and rollicking fun.

This movie was always meant to be taken lightly rather than literally or (worse) earnestly.

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. (**)

Lots of fun , laughs and car races , displaying nonstop action in Marseille , including chases , tongue-in-cheek and lots of humor . This hilarious film from Taxi series includes a lot of unlucky, clumsy, charming characters , it delivers a funny work , its knack of getting the most out of the quirkie roles and situations without ever going over the top makes for some very big laughs . This one deals with Daniel Morales (Sami Naceri) , the driver of a very special taxi in Marseille, gets a famous soccer player to the stadium in time and after that , he helps his clumsy police friend Émilien Coutant-Kerbalec (Frédéric Diefenthal) catch the nasty Belgian after he escaped on Émilien's guard. But soon the Belgian getaways , and while pursuing him the mates stumble on a bank robbery and a drug king's palatial villa, where the grand finale reeks wreak havoc in Brian De Palma's Scarface style . And teaming up with a botcher group of underdog municipal policemen commanded by stiff Commissaire Gibert (Bernard Farcy) in ¨Police Academy¨ style. The sympathetic cop and his companion and their super-taxi go into action . Out to stop the thief gang . No speed limits the next 90 min.

Diverting and moving French action comedy in which the bungling ordinary squad takes on a dangerous mobster and his hoodlums , including the ordinary actors as Samy Naceri , Frédéric Diefenthal , Bernard Farcy , Emma Wiklund , Edouard Montoute , all of them giving sympathetic interpretations. The jokes come as thick and fast , hit and miss as usual and it is done in good spirit if not always in good taste . So-so entry to the nice series with accent on sight gags , and humour that stems from the diverting roles established in other movies . The agreeable cast formed by the motley group of misfits giving fun interpretation while creating confusion , laughs and mayhem . This thrilling as well as humorous motion picture blends action packed , car chases , comedy , shootouts , rip-roaring and turns out to be pretty amusing . The movie is developed in Marseille , as usual , being extremely bemusing , hilarious and really disconcerting.

The film displays action , comedy , intrigue , tongue-in-check and results to be entertaining enough, though predictable . The premise is simple and plain , as a misfit , botcher but likable team reunited to undertake dangerous missions . There are chases galore in breathtaking velocity and with impressive finale race cars , causing wreak havoc and destruction , being realized by magnificent stunts and including excellent visual effects . From start to finish the action pace is fast-moving , as it provides fast and furious entertainment with spectacular scenes . It's a run-of-the mill action-comedy film but from the initial scenes to final entertainment and amusement is unstopped . The laughters and chuckles are varied and giggles are based about diverse characters and differences of the protagonists , but they're the unlikeliest pals . The film is thrilling and humorous at times but is also ridiculous and embarrassing . However, sometimes is fresh and diverting and on a couple of memorable occasions , it's frankly delicious .

Lively and atmospheric musical score adjusted to the action composed by means of synthesizer . Glamorous and colorful cinematography by cameraman Pierrre Morel .This French buddy-cop movie was lavishly produced by great producer and director Luc Besson and regularly directed by Gérard Krawczyk . The funny Taxi series ordinarily played by a foul-mouthed Cabbie : Sami Narcery joining forces with a bungler police inspector , a loser named Emilien : Frederic Diefenthal, along with Bernard Farcy , Marion Cotillard . The original titled Taxi (1998) by Gerard Pires was followed by four sequels : Taxi 2 (2000) , Taxi 3 (2003) y Taxi 4 (2007) and Taxi 5 (2018) with Franck Gastambide , Salvatore Esposito , Edouard Montoute , Alain Trésor, Anouar Toubali ; most of them directed by Gerard Krawczyc and same actors and an American version Taxi (2004) by Tim Story with Queen Lafitah , Jimmy Fallon . The flick will appeal to adrenaline lovers and those young people looking for amusement and strong emotions . It's a must see for the cars buffs and Taxi series enthusiasts .

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!