A masterpiece! nothing less!

Rating: 9/10 (22 January 2011)

I'm a bit late. It took many years until I finally got around to seeing this film. I already knew it was a classic and folks I knew told me how brilliant it was. I had wanted to see it for along time but when preparing to watch it I still tried to keep my expectations on an moderate level fearing that it would feel overrated or old. After seeing it I was just like why did I worry? Taxi Driver is perfect.
First the film has aged extremely well. Sure you can see it's been several years but thats not a disadvantage, quite the opposite actually. The look is just perfect to get the right feel of when it is set. The style of the scenes are brilliant and the way the filming is done is just as brilliant. Soundtrack well chosen to set the feel. Some may think it's a slow movie but it is not. The pace at which the story is told is perfectly chosen. Travis Bickle must be one of the most gripping characters ever. Even though the film is under 2h one gets so close to him I really feel the loneliness that drives him to desperation. Is Robert De Niro's portrayal one of the best performances ever? I would say yes, You talking' to me? The other actors are also brilliant, Jodie Foster is incredible. Amazing supporting performances make every character just as important as the story does. The character development is the central thing driving this film. Don't mistake this for an action film because it's not. A very disturbing film but the reasons lie much deeper than visual brutality. The story slowly builds up to something which one might have an idea of what is. Still I sit at total attention to see what will happen next. The ending shootout must be one of the strongest endings I have ever seen. Sad but still hopeful. Short but in a intense way. The way the camera zooms over the scene when the fight is over, genius. The speech from the thank you letter, very emotionally sad. The ending is kind of open to analysis, works great sometimes I can find it frustrating with open endings. Not here, I immediately thought out what I think happened. Someone said it's the kind of movie you watch once, good but not to see many times. I do absolutely NOT agree. Right after the ending I wanted to see it again and again.
Taxi Driver is strong, disturbing, thought provoking, sad, interesting and important. It is all here. Martin Scorsese's definitive masterpiece and Robert De Niro best performance. Taxi Driver holds up still today just as incredible as it has always been. One of the greatest ever! 10/10