Wow, three columns this week already, looks like this Euro-AICN concept is really working. Another month and ol' Father Geek can start looking for reporters/editors in Latin America and Southeast Asia, then Austin really will be AICN World Geek Headquarters, now to Paris and our guy's look at Luc Besson's new feature film, TAXI 2...
Hello there ! Edgard here with two reviews of "Taxi 2" (written and produced by Luc Besson if you didn't know it yet). This movie opened only a few days ago and it's breaking all the box office records in France, so it seems that once again Besson managed to meet the public's desire. As you will read in my review here below I didn't like it that much (I didn't like the first one either) but Grandmath enjoyed it much more. Maybe it's me... Maybe I have issues with taxi's.. I will think about it. Anyway I think that the two reviews have the same conclusion... so read yourself !
"Taxi 2" (Edgard's review)
Two years ago, a little movie with unknown actors took everyone by surprise and became a huge hit in France : that was "Taxi" (you probably guessed it by now). Taking the very classic scheme of "buddy movie", it was the story of Daniel, a cool taxi driver, helping Emilien, a clumsy young cop (who can't drive) to solve a case. The story was pointless, the idea was just to put fast cars, the charming South of France and a good soundtrack mixed together with humour and action. Result : a box office hit. My problem with that movie is that I was hoping for a French "Lethal Weapon" or "48 Hours" when it was more a French version of "Smokey and the Bandit". Lots of cars are crashing in a funny way. No one gets hurt. The bad guys (very stereotyped Germans). and the cops are stupid (REALLY stupid). The ending was a bit lame. Still I thought I didn't like it because I had more expectations. I was more confident with "Taxi 2" because there I knew what to expect.... unfortunately, I still didn't buy it. More or less for the same reasons :
- the action sequences : well, it's true the taxi is cool and some of the car chases are fast and nervous... but why did they need to put wings on this damn taxi ? If they wanted to transform it as a James Bond car, why not go all the way and add really cool gizmo's ? Then the crashes are made in a "Blue Brothers" way : many police cars are crashing together and no one gets hurt (not even the bad guys when they hit a military tank - the irony being that a cameraman got killed during the shooting of the film). Actually the action sequences with the cars reminded me of the early 80's James Bond with Roger Moore. Exactly like in "A View to A kill" with the fire truck in San Francisco : more fun than thrill.... that was maybe funny back then, but not anymore. Another sad thing is that Paris (where the last third of the movie takes place) is not well used here. I guess it's probably impossible even for Luc Besson to shut down the Champs-Elysées... but still I wish they had used more the typical streets or tourist places of Paris for the last chase. Otherwise, you get some kung-fu fights... no need to say it has nothing to do with real kung-fu movies, maybe because once again it's not violent, it's just funny.
- the bad guys : they are (again) there only for laughs... problem is the jokes are mainly racist. After the Germans, the bad ones are Japanese here. And I have to admit I was a bit uncomfortable with the humour sometimes. It's also a kind of humour you could find in many French comedies from the late 70's and early 80's. And another result of this "funny" approach is that there is no question asked whether they will or will not succeed in their evil plans : they will fail big time and you know it right the way (sorry for the spoiler).
- the cops : in a typical French tradition cops are extremely stupid and totally incompetent (I don't know how many times you get to see a cop jumping and falling badly on the floor or in the trash can). It would be funny if the jokes were good (and trust me I am not difficult on that point, I enjoyed the "Police Academy" movies) unfortunately they are not funny at all. And don't let me start with the military characters, it's even worst...
- the story : no plot, nothing else to say
- the good guys : the "buddy movie" rule means they should complete each other, so if Daniel is the cool hero, the good driver who is not afraid of anything; Emilien is the goofy one, trying to get his female partner in his bed by impressing her. Unfortunately, you don't really feel the chemistry between the two actors. Maybe it's because they don't have much scene where they can really interact : think about it, Daniel is driving half the movie... nothing much left for Emilien to do except maybe screaming or falling....
So far I have been very negative, so it would be unfair not to mention some positive aspects. The first and main one being that maybe this was not a movie made for action fans (like me), but more for family or group of friends (Grandmath's review will explain that better)... in that approach, "Taxi 2" is a success. People around me were laughing (when I was not... do I have a problem with French humour ?). As a pure pop-corn movie, it probably works. I have to admit that despite my many critics I was not bored, only frustrated that I couldn't get in this "light" spirit. Another good point is that there is not enough movies like this in France. I think the French public would like to see more entertaining movies like that. At least Besson proves that French "pop-corn" movies can compete with American ones (at least in France, I doubt that "Taxi 2" will be successful elsewhere). And last but not least, Daniel is played by a French actor with North-African origins and this is very important in French cinema today. Like Afro-American characters in American movies before, North-African actors were doomed in France to play the bad guys, the trouble-makers or the one you were feeling sorry for. Here it's not the case. Daniel, played very well by Samy Naceri, is the coolest guy around "Taxi 2", he is the true hero of the movie.
My final word is : maybe "Taxi 2" is not a revolution in movie-making (far from that), but at least it shows that hopefully some things are changing in France. Which is good. Let's wait for "Taxi 3" now...
Edgard
"Taxi 2" (Grandmath's review)
Taxi 2 has the biggest opening ever in France: it will make in 7 days, twice as much bucks as Star Wars Episode 1 did in 7 days in France. Apparently, people like it. It goes from: "it is ok" to "I loooooooved it. It was sooooo cooooool...or something like that". As for me, I loved it. It is not my favourite movie (perhaps it lacks something...real depth or emotion), but for what it is, and what it is aimed for (pure entertainment), it delivers.
To like this one, you have to like the first "Taxi" though. Because it is almost exactly the same movie. As for me, I didn't go see Taxi in the theatres in 1998. I didn't realise what kind of movie it was. Although the poster was cool, I thought it was the story of a taxi driver, or a stuff like that. When a friend of mine proposed me to watch it on video, I said: "ok, I have to go in 25 minutes, let's watch the beginning." I can assure you, I stayed on the bed during all the film. It wasn't intellectual at all, the story could have been written on a single sheet of paper, the actors weren't famous or especially good. But they were natural. The film was sooo cool. Very funny lines (easy jokes but the ones you have to laugh at), cool chase scenes, sun (it was shot in Marseille), cool music...you weren't prepared for it, and you just passed a great time in front of a video. No political message. Nothing that could predict a success. But people found in it an American-like action movie, but typically French.
So when "Taxi 2" was announced, I promised to myself to grab 2 friends on opening Friday (actually, the movie opened Wednesday, but Friday is a better time to go because week-end follows and you can just let you go into the movie without thinking of the next day's work), stay in line for two hours, and pass a great moment. I wasn't surprised at all. The sequel is a copy of the first movie. Almost the same lines. But different situations. I think the public didn't want to be surprised, they loved the characters in the first, the stunts, the car-chases, the good mood of the movie and that is what they wanted to find again when they went in the theatre. They wanted to meet again with Emilien and Daniel and the commissary, and to live another adventure with them. If the characters had grown up, had a different personality in the sequel, people wouldn't have liked it as much as they did. Emilien is still a nice clumsy bloke, Daniel is still sure of himself and of his car, and the police captain is still a stupid guy. That is cool. The cars were great. I think the whole film is a publicity for Peugeot, but a good one. I don't know how much they paid for this movie. They are everywhere. The new Mitsubishi are damn great. When they go by three, all in black, they look so cool, they have a personality. The movie is less realistic than the first one. The 406 Peugeot has now wings and kind of Knight Rider dashboard in it. It looks so stupid, but it is fun. As for when the car falls from a military plane to land in Paris, with parachutes, you say to yourself "hum hum, perhaps it is too much". But you laugh. That is strange. When people get out of the theatres, even when they critic part of the movie, they laugh. So perhaps even the mistakes were necessary in this movie.
The pace is fast, you get directly into action because you know the characters from the beginning. There is no more presentation, setting...when you see the shadow of the 406 during the opening sequence, during a rally-like race, you laugh out loud, because you know it is Daniel who will pass the world champions, saying that they force him to slow down because they are tourists on the road who sticked logos on their cars to impress girls. And that's what he says :). Going to Paris is a good idea, but it is too short there. The chase-scenes are a bit confusing sometimes. You don't know where you are. But it is not as confusing as in Rock :) Perhaps they should have played around with famous icons of Paris (i.e. Eiffel Tower) or even film a chase in Disneyland Paris! That would have been great. The end is short (is there an end?) but that doesn't matter. You had a really good moment.
This is the kind of movie that you have to go with a lot of friends, in a full-packed-damn-big theatre, with a big basket of Pop Corn. It is French pop-corn movie, and it is because there are not much films like this in France that this one works so well. It is like Star Wars: many people will say it is shit, but in the theatre, it is plain cool to watch.
Grandmath
