Pretty interesting, but doesn't age as well as some classics.

Rating: 7/10 (15 August 2015)

This is the story of a naturally bad man doing a good thing, though maybe not in the best way. Perhaps saying that Travis is a bad man is taking it a bit far, but regardless he has a tendency to take violent actions. It might not be plausible that Travis is regarded as a hero rather than a criminal for shooting up Sport and his men, but he deserved some sort of recognition for choosing the right place to put his actions. Then again, he also planned to kill Palantine, so maybe it was mere coincidence that he chose to take down a socially destructive institution rather than say a school or a hospital.
The plot is motivated almost solely by the progression of Travis' thoughts and how he copes with his mental issues. His first solution is taking a night shift as a taxi driver. Through that he meets one of Palantine's campaign workers, Betsy, and tries to befriend her. He blows it and goes into depression for a little while. Then he gets the idea to vent his feelings through violence when one of his passengers tells Travis of his intention to kill his wife and the black man with her. Travis slowly begins to realize how much crime and other vulgar behavior there is on the streets of New York. He gets to meet a byproduct of this crime in the twelve year old prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster), and her plight motivates him to bring down the institution that she works for.
Travis, our antihero protagonist, is most himself when he's alone, as I'm sure most people are. When he's around people, he comes off as overly sincere, a little like when Benedict Cumberpatch's Sherlock tries to be more human. He doesn't seem to understand certain things when it comes to interacting with people like the scene where he talks to Palantine and when he takes Betsy to the porn theater. It's not severe, but there's something that he's missing socially. You could argue that Betsy is portrayed as faultless and unrealistic, but she has a definite personality and doesn't tolerate nonsense from the guys she encounters. Iris is very well written in that she has clearly seen more than a pre- adolescent should, but is still growing up and feels like a kid. The other minor characters consist of Iris' boss Sport, Palantine, Travis' fellow taxi driver Wizard, and the guy with the afro and glasses who works with Betsy.
The acting and script was good, maybe great for the time. It's shot pretty well, but there aren't any wowing camera tricks. I wasn't hugely impressed by the "you talking to me?" monologue, probably because they show most of it in the trailer. The action sequence at the end isn't terribly realistic, but you probably won't notice or care much unless you're really nit-picking.
I was slightly disappointed in the movie as a whole, probably because I expected there to be a twist ending. There's a little bit of surprise at the end since we Travis never states outright that he plans to use his newly acquired guns and skills as a means to save Iris and/or kill Palantine. I didn't even know that he was planning to assassinate Palantine while I was watching it, but it makes sense now. To a modern audience, it might not have a huge effect, but it's still a classic and worth a try for anyone who doesn't mind stepping out of the feel-good genre. Overall Rating: 8.2/10.