Doesn't stand the test of time

Rating: 7/10 (25 November 2012)

Taxi Driver is clearly an iconic film that has gone down in history with many memorable moments. But it's an ideal example of a film that's nowhere near as good as it thinks it is.
De Niro is superb and portrays his complex character absolutely perfectly. Jodie Foster is good (for her age) but Harvey Keitel doesn't particularly shine (he seems a bit miscast) and the rest are kind of average at best (especially Cybill Shepherd).
From a plot perspective, Travis Bickle's search for a purpose in his trouble life is an interesting theme that holds the whole film together. But as good as it is, Taxi Driver now feels very dated and parts of it seem a bit laboured. The 'big scene' towards the end is not well handled at all in my opinion and just looks unrealistic. I'm sure it was all very shocking and groundbreaking in its day but it doesn't stand the test of time.
At the time of writing, Taxi Driver has an IMDb score of 8.5 – that's pretty high for a film such as this and actually puts it in a higher position (currently) than Reservoir Dogs, Full Metal Jacket and No Country for Old Men. It's nowhere near as good as any of those three and one would expect to see a much better film than Taxi Driver based on such a high IMDb score. However, I hate it when people deliberately give a film 1/10 just because they think a score is too high and they want to influence the average. It doesn't deserve 8.5 but it's still a good film. 7/10.