Grim + Depressing = A Brilliant Film

Rating: 10/10 (20 May 2008)

Taxi Driver is a brilliant film from the 70s and from Martin Scorsese, one of my favourite directors. This is a grim tale but is essential viewing.
Taxi Driver is about Travis (Robert De Niro), an ex-Marine suffering from insomnia and becomes a taxi driver. He is a rather unpleasant, creepy character who spends his time going to porn theatres and stalks Betsy, a campaign worker for a Presidential candidate. He was unsuccessful with Betsy, driving her away. Because of his job he see New York in the depths of night and the city is very horrible and seedy, with prostitution and drugs around. This gives Travis the drive to do something and he is pushed over the edge when he has an encounter with a 13-year-old prostitute (Jodie Foster). He gets himself armed with weapons and trains himself up. He attempts to assassinate the presidential candidate before taking on Iris' pimp and try and get her out of that lifestyle.
Taxi Driver benefits from a good script, and excellent direction from Scorsese and acting from De Niro. It is a depressing story but that's why I like it. It has themes such as lonely, alienation, determination and mental illness. It shows the grim underbelly of New York and how horrible that city was in the 70s. This was from a man who loves New York. It is violence, but it does tackle dark themes anyway. I also like the fact that Scorsese cast a 13-year-old to play a 13-year-old, but I do understand why that is controversial. I also am under such whether to call Travis a villain or an anti-hero, but De Niro plays the role perfectly and he is one of my favourite actors.
Taxi Driver has also been influential in films showing darker themes and how nasty New York was. A good example would be Batman: Year One by Frank Miller where the author shows that Gotham was similar to that kind of New York.
The music of the film also had a film-noir feel to it and I thought that was really fitting.
Taxi Driver is well worth seeing.