Taxxi 4

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.

Not much is left of the fast paced action from the original "Taxi"! The only connection between this and the previous movies are the cast and a very short appearance of the taxi driven by Daniel (Samy Naceri)! Everything what I liked about the "Taxi" series is gone! Apart from the climax which looked like a parody on Scarface there is not much action to be enjoyed! There are no car chases and none of the spectacular stunts we are used to from the "Taxi" series! That doesn't mean that "Taxi 4" is a bad movie! It has a lot of funny moments and you will laugh! But with the action missing the well balanced mix of humor and action is lost! It was nice to see the main characters some what matured since they have become parents! But it could have been much nicer if they showed more about the relationship between the heroes and their children! I hope this will be the last in the "Taxi" series! Because it only can get worse and that shouldn't happen! "Taxi 4" is a slapstick comedy that surely will find an audience! But my guess is that a lot of fans from the original Taxi will give this a miss!

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.

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.

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!