One of the best character progressions ever written on screen, though the movie itself being slightly disappointing

Rating: 7/10 (13 June 2007)

"Taxi Driver" is a good movie, it's nothing phenomenal, but it's good. Like Martin Scorsese's movies usually it is also over-hyped, or at least that's what I think. Don't get me wrong, I liked the movie, but the rating of 8.5 at IMDb is probably a bit too much, it is not that great. The movie tells a story about Travis Bickle, a Vietnam veteran who works as a taxi driver at nights. He is constantly disturbed by the life around him and that gets him mentally unstable. He thinks the streets of New York City are full of trash and by that he is referring to people, and all the injustice and corruption the world around him has. Bickle doesn't have any real friends and he starts to question his own existence, he is lonely and a complete outsider to everyone, failing to make any emotional contact with anyone. The film follows Travis's story's progress from attempts to desperation and it deals with mental issues along with the search of love and happiness.
The best thing this movie has to offer is Robert De Niro, who does an amazing role performance in the role of Travis Bickle. The character itself is very well written as well, so De Niro only had to translate the character on to the screen and he managed that pretty flawlessly. The whole progress of the character is just brilliantly acted out, all the facial expressions and the whole body language changes along the progress in a fantastic way and De Niro makes one of the best role performances he has done this far. It was also pretty interesting to see De Niro in such a "young" age, as he was magnificent back then as well, even he actually was 33 years old when the movie was made. The story focuses completely on Travis and there aren't much scenes where he wouldn't be, although there are supporting actors/actresses along the way. The one in the most supporting role is Jodie Foster, who in the age of 14 plays a child prostitute. I was very surprised how good actress she was even back then, in the age of 14! She is so real and performs the role of Iris superbly, I just can't believe she was only 14. Two small parts are played by the legends Peter Boyle (god bless the man) and Harvey Keitel, Boyle in the role "Wizard", another taxi driver in New York City who gives advice to Travis and Keitel in the role of "Sport", a pimp in New York City who for example sells Iris for money and who Travis just can't stand.
Directed by Martin Scorsese, the movie is definitely recognizable as his, as it certainly has that Scorsese touch in it, though I think it is darker than Martin's movies usually. Scorsese always seems to describe violence in a very violent way and he doesn't hide the truth, though sometimes a fictional truth, behind the true violence and other disturbing images. This movie is all in all very disturbing and like Scorsese's movies usually it's also pretty heavy, so the weak minded viewers won't be enjoying it and watching it all the way through. The heaviness is also caused by that slight dullness the movie starts to have after the first hour and it seems like stretched, you keep on watching these irrelevant scenes which don't even matter so much in the end and the movie sadly loses its flow. It does get better towards the end, but there's just this one part of the movie where it seems to stumble a little bit. Maybe I'm being too harsh, so don't slay me because of that, but after all that is just my opinion. The screenplay is pretty much only the building of the main character, the movie is after all a story about Travis Bickle and no-one else. Despite the fact of the screenplay being almost nothing else than the story about the character it still manages to have surprisingly much depth in the plot, which is a very nice thing, as it also drops the heaviness level a little bit.
"Taxi Driver" offers you a disturbing, yet psychologically clever experience, not forgetting the intelligence it has inside it. Robert De Niro is undeniably the best thing the movie has to offer, so I'm recommending the movie for everyone who is seeking a movie with an astonishing role performance. Like mentioned before this movie isn't for the weak minded, but if you still want to see it then it's your decision and you have been warned. "Taxi Driver" is partly all in all interesting, above decent without a doubt and it could be described as an artistic rather than an ordinary movie. So for those who are in search of a light and an easy movie for the Friday evening to watch with a girlfriend, then this isn't for you. It requires concentration and nerves, thinking and collecting pieces of the puzzle afterwards. It's not a phenomenal one, but it's definitely a good one. If all this still doesn't satisfy you, then for god sakes please watch it just because of the experience of seeing the hilarious long dark curly hair Harvey Keitel has in it. Marvellous.