Watch Taxi 3 For Free

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Powerful

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Continuing my plan to watch every Sly Stallone movie in his filmography in order, I come to his cameo in Taxi 3.Plot In A Paragraph: A gang of thieves calling themselves the Santa Claus Gang are running riot, and the police are nowhere near catching them. Police Captain Gilbert is distracted by a Chinese reporter writing a story on his squad, detective Emilien's wife has just announced that she's pregnant, and taxi driver Daniel is in the midst of a relationship crisis. After a string of mistakes in which the thieves outsmart the police several times with a reporter there to report on it all, Daniel steps in to help out.The tile sequence is fun, as its basically a rip off various James Bond titles Director Gerard Krawczyk had directed writer Luc Besson's last movie 'Wasabi' starring Jean Reno. Funnily enough, in the street market, you can clearly see behind Émilien in at least two shots a poster for 'Wasabi'Stallone briefly pops up for a taxi ride in the first couple of mins.

By the time Taxi 3 will, for whatever reason, roll onto your screens right before your eyes, after having seen the first two in this laborious French franchise, you'll only be as tired of it as those playing the lead roles look of their characters. The film is a limp; dull; daft; repetitive; plodding piece, a wondering, staggering film dragging its content along like a Neanderthal from many-a century ago might drag its knuckles along as it journeyed from A to B. Thin on plot and character but high on spectacle; moping and chasing, the series takes a turn at stage three to less-so resemble a Ferrari and more-so begin to dramatically resemble a beaten up 80s Lada. Like a Rickshaw driver at the end of a very busy day, this series has officially stretched its premise and wholly run out of puff; and I wouldn't be so sour about things if it'd brought about better products out of Luc Besson's Europacorp company in recent years. Sadly, the pay-cheque (and that's all Taxi 3 is) clearly went on to fund other ventures Besson has had a finger in developing since, such as the Transporter series and the Banal Banlieue 13 franchise.The film actually beings with a mock-James Bond opening sequence, in which action man Sly Stallone is chased by a bunch of Xtreme-Sports bad guys before bumping into Daniel's (Naceri) taxi and speeding off, out running a train in the process of dodging the enemy. Cue mock-Bond title sequence, and you think to yourself that they've realised just how stupid; just how poor; just how nonsensical the franchise is in its action infused attitudes to itself that it's had to go down this route of self reflexivity. Later on, the film will fall back on similarly constructed idiot action sequences for sake of dramatic involvement, thus completely undermining its own point - if there was even one there initially.Leads Samy Naceri and Frédéric Diefenthal look bored with their task of playing Daniel, the cab driver come good, and incompetent French copper Émilien. They look fed up, as if they didn't want to be there, as if the film was contractually bound to their starring in the first two and thus, their presence in the third film was compulsory. The two share no chemistry, as if the second time was enough time spent together doing this and now that we're onto the third outing, half the effort will suffice. One sits here and says these are the leads, the film actually centres in on Émilien and his new state of marriage with Emma Wiklund's Petra for the best part of the opening forty minutes; all the while sidelining Daniel for Émilien. Where's the star? Where's the hero from the first two? Where, with his razor wit and casual destruction of the highway code for sake of schlock laughs, is the reason these films were even popular in the first place? Where's Daniel? When he does make himself known, he's bickering with girlfriend Lilly (Cotillard, whom by this point the series needed more than she needed it following the opposite) over his obsession with his taxi and later putting pregnancy tests in his mouth.Daniel's sidelining and Émilien's subsequent promotion sees the roles reversed from the first two, in that one is now very much in a relationship and now apparently takes the reigns for driving the film with the other single and now sidelined as a goofy supporting act. The loose plot is the same bilge recycled from the first two. These Taxi films aren't about story or narrative, they're about a bunch of thieves whom just happened to be in town; go around robbing places and/or kidnapping people and then instigate hijinks from the police officers whom call on the assistance of the aforementioned Daniel. Here, a bunch of Chinese villains take on the role of the faceless, anonymous, foreign bad guys; filling in for the Germans and the Japanese whom were both past occupants of said role. Their plan is hatched when mysterious journalist Qui (Ling Bai) turns up at the police station Émilien and the reoccurring chief character Gibert (Farcy) head operations. The thread-bear plotting is best highlighted in that if the police ever at all checked for I.D. at any point in the film, we wouldn't really have a film.The gang disguise themselves as Santas during this Christmas period at which the film is set, an early attempt at supposedly apprehending one of these Santas in a public shopping area resulting in one of many of the film's jokes being set up and executed with an almighty clunk as we correctly predict the Santa is not, in fact, one of the robbers and, in fact, is a part of the mall's festive attractions. One thing will lead to another after a drawn out hour or so of the dull leads and their boring respective marital situations, culminating in a sequence in which one of them is tied to a chair as a red digital readout ticks down to his supposed demise. Besson and his French/Polish directorial stooge Gérard Krawczyk know they cannot lump for another road chase to round things off, so everybody tanks off to the Swiss Alps for variation set on snow and ice, and yes, somebody does indeed go through the ice in the tamest of slapstick fashions. I've no problem with chase sequences or car chase sequences, but the spectacle of them alone is not enough to invest emotion in; we need to give a damn about those involved. Like upon hearing of a new film Besson had a hand in scripting, it's just difficult to care anymore.

Luc Besson is a Big personality in the French Cinema business. Actually, He would love to be compared as the french "Spielberg". The guy who manages great success at the box office and quality. However, with Besson, this is not the case. Despite some massive french box office hits ("Le grand Bleu", "le 5eme element"), Besson, as a director, never managed to impress us. His movies are extremely commercials but, for most of them, very childish and immature. And this is typical for Taxi 3. Taxi, the first one, was quite funny and the stunts were terrific. This was a hit at the box office because it was "different" from the other kind of french cinema. But, OMG, this one is so bad! This is definitely the WORST ACTING performance ever in a french movie ! Look at Gibert, the "commissaire" - the "captain". Poor guy, he IS the worst actor i ever seen in a long time ! Sounds like the director had focused on the stunts and totally forgot to, actually, "direct" the actors ! While some scenes has some funny aspects, it is so silly that it is stupid. Believe it or not but the scenario and the dialog reminds me of the "great" Max Pecas, RIP, the worst french director ever as Tim Burton compares him with Ed Wood ! Yes This Max Pecas style ! But with more money. Besson may have made some few bucks with this one, but doing such a crap film, i don't think he will be ever remembered as the french "Spielberg" !

This is an example of witty French comedy at its best. The production crew are clearly really enjoying themselves now, and from opening titles worthy of 007's Maurice Binder to plot steals from Lethal Weapon 4, the film merges slapstick with biting French satire and drops in a spoonful of Feydeau farce for good measure. I am sorry it is not out with English subtitles yet because it means that only French-speakers can really enjoy it. If you do view it, there is one question you will have to ask yourselves - was Sylvester Stallone dubbed or is that really how he speaks French ? There may not be a Taxi 4 - but I'll be in the queue to buy the DVD if there is.