Review of 'Taxi 2'
2nd film in the 'Taxi' series
Yeah, the first Taxi film was pretty silly and, well, this is just as silly if perhaps even a bit more with the ability of the taxi to now fly for short periods.
Speed demon taxi driver Daniel Morales (Samy Naceri) is introduced to his, now, girlfriend Lilly Bertineau's (Marion Cotillard) strict father Général Edmond Bertineau (Jean-Christophe Bouvet) who is called to the airport to meet the Japanese ambassador who visiting Marseilles to study their anti-gang tactics. Daniel's services are called upon to get the général to the airport on time with predictable results (the taxi now has built-in barf bag for the always nauseous passengers). Impressed by Daniel's driving the général has Daniel assigned to be the ambassador's driver during his stay in Marseilles but when an attempt to display the local police force's expertise goes wrong the ambassador is kidnapped by a group working for the Japanese yakuza. Inept cop Émilien Coutant-Kerbalec (Frédéric Diefenthal) once again finds himself working with Daniel to rescue the ambassador…Needless to say, there will be a few car chases including one through the streets of Paris.
“Taxi 2” begins at a Rally race where Daniel is rushing in his taxi to get a pregnant woman to the hospital in time. In his souped up taxi and demonic driving he quickly finds himself held up on the road by one of the rally racers, passing him to cross over the line and get to the hospital. This pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the film which is a sequence of incredible car chase sequences with the occasional lapse into the fantastic (seriously, it actually flies). Nonetheless, the car chases are absolutely incredible and really have you on the edge of your seat. Despite the frequent action, this is all played for gags as is much of the over the top acting and on-going jokes such as Daniel never managing to get back to his rather impatient girlfriend despite his best efforts. The characters are decidedly one-dimensional and, for the most part, exceptionally dim, except, of course, for Daniel and the baddies. This all just adds to the light-hearted sense of fun.
There are a few sexist comments that cast a bit of a shadow on the film but otherwise this is a great deal of fun and silliness from a master of modern French action films, Luc Besson (I am definitely a fan).
Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”
Review Date: 2021-05-15
Directed by: Luc Besson
Studio: ARP Sélection
Year: 2000
Length: 88 minutes
Genre: Action/Adventure
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0183869/
Other reviewed films by Luc Besson:
- The Fifth Element (1997)
- Taxi (1998)