Besson revealed a knack for dry humour in Leon, with Jean Reno's
unforgettable asssasin who loved to drink milk and tend to his plants.
Taxi has a wickedly sharp script, full of brilliant one-liners.
Reverting to his native tongue, this is a world away from the stilted
and cliche-ridden dialogue of
The Fifth Element.
The laughs come thick
and almost as fast as these vehicles tearing around Marseilles. Any
thoughts of the French lacking a decent sense of humour are well and
truly banished. This is probably the funniest film you are likely to see
for a long time.
In terms of extra features, the disc is admittedly threadbare. Nothing
from Besson, Pires or any of the cast. Standard filmographies are all
that's offered aside from an obligatory trailer. However, it looks and
sounds terrific - despite being only Dolby Digital 2.0 and a 2.35:1
Letterbox ratio that's non-anamorphic. The subtitles are clear and easy
to follow, and allow the essence and flow of the dialogue to be
conveyed.
Confident, colourful and utterly cinematic, Taxi stands head and
shoulders above the competition. After the almost-as-exhilarating Run
Lola Run, it's clear that European cinema is putting both Britain and
America to shame when it comes to producing this type of film. Only the
lack of extras blight an otherwise excellent package.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
