The tension builds to a grisly climax

Rating: 10/10 (25 January 2004)

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD: Taxi Driver is a character study of a very disturbed individual, Travis Bickle. We know the movie is building up to something, but unlike some movies where the only payoff is the climax, one can be fascinated with the journey into hell that Travis goes on, and which we tag along. The film has few actual violent scenes, but the ones that it has really make an impact on the viewer. The robbery scene is raw and disturbing, and the climactic 'attack' on the mob run whorehouse apartment is shattering. Has any scene in cinema had the raw, disturbing power and ugliness that this scene shows?It is a gruesome ballet of death, like a train wreck in which we can't turn away. Some movies are filled with violent action from beginning to end, but the violence lacks realism or raw, shocking power. By prescribing it in small intense amounts, Scorsese shows it for what it is - gory, ugly, powerful, fascinating, and not for fun. A popcorn movie this is not!