Not as good as I expected...

Rating: 6/10 (13 January 2010)

I received the two-disc special edition DVD of Taxi Driver for a Christmas present and was delighted to get it as I have never watched this much-heralded movie. I knew all about it from the whole 'You talking to me' comment by De Niro and when I saw it was number 40 in the IMDb top 250 - my appetite was truly whetted.
But it was not satisfied.
I watched the film and was impressed with the acting of De Niro - he really does live the character. However, the storyline for me was weak. The whole 'returning vet going mad' bit I got, but the process in which the story was unveiled to us was poor in my opinion. Maybe, I am not high-brow enough to understand all the various levels of loneliness, sub-conscious inward pain but the whole thing for me just did not hang together well. It drifted towards boring at some times and nonsense at other times. I'll try to back up these acidic comments by some examples (in no specific order):
1. Why was Bickle targeting Palantine? After meeting him in his cab, he seemed to think that he was a good, solid guy. Yet it looked like he was trying to kill him later on. Why?
2. As Bickle tries to clean up some of the scum - i.e. a good, almost heroic act - it seemed to clash with his general behaviour. He wasn't a very nice person but yet he carries out a good deed in relation to humanity.
3. Why did Bickle bring Betsy to a dirty movie for a date? Is he that stupid that he didn't realise that it would more than likely be offensive?
4. What was the point of the scene with Martin Scorsese in the taxi as a passenger telling Bickle about his plans to kill his wife? Meaningless if you ask me.
5. The secret service scene also is ridiculous. Bickle is a veteran army guy - why does he blatantly 'out' himself as an obvious weirdo to these guys? Acting strange, giving a wrong address. Why?
There are other issues with this film - the grating, overbearing score, the washed out (censor influenced) ending, De Niro's ever-growing/receding hairstyle. So as a movie, I personally feel a little let down. There was nothing to bring me in to this fan club here. Foster's portrayal as a 12 year old prostitute is okay (good for a 12 year old, but nothing spectacular), Keitel was only okay as the pimp (over-pimping it in my opinion) and Shepard did nothing for me (I might have a little bias towards her as I never warmed to her as an actress).
It's one of those films that if done by anyone else then it would be rubbished. But because it's Scorsese and De Niro - everyone loves it. A little like The Deer Hunter if you ask me - another overblown, overrated flick.
6/10.