7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
In Marseille, France, an aspiring racecar driver named Daniel, is a Vespa pizza-delivery boy who just quit his job and became a taxi driver. With his supercharged Peugeot 406 he eludes the police while quickly transporting his fares to their destinations. Finally caught by the police for a huge speed infraction, he is forced to help Émilien, a down-on-his-luck police inspector, on the trail of professional German bank robbers driving supercharged Mercedes. Trying to juggle a budding relationship with his beautiful girlfriend Lili and a need for high-speed chases, Daniel helps Émilien so that he does not lose his license and quite possibly his job.
Starring: Samy Naceri, Frédéric Diefenthal, Marion Cotillard, Manuela Gourary, Emma WiklundForeign | 100% |
Action | 41% |
Crime | 25% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Confirmed from disc on the player.
French SDH, English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Winner of Cesar Awards for Best Sound and Best Editing, Gerard Pires' "Taxi" (1998) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label ARP Selection. The supplemental features on this release include original trailers for the film; making of featurette; and a gallery of production stills. The release also arrives with a 40-page illustrated booklet with information about the film as well as collectable photographs. In French, with optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.
One super-fast taxi
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Gerard Pires' Taxi arrives on Blu-ray courtesy
of French label ARP Selection.
Generally speaking, detail and depth are far better than those seen on previous DVD releases of Taxi. More often than not the daylight footage,
for instance, boasts the type of depth that we have come to expect from good Blu-ray releases. Colors are stable and appropriately saturated. Contrast
is also pleasing. However, there are traces of extremely light denoising and sharpening corrections. They never become overly distracting, but the
larger your screen is, the easier it might be for you to spot their presence. During close-ups with plenty of natural light these traces are typically easier
to see than during sequences where light is restricted (see screencapture #2), but there are also sequences with wider panoramic shots where the
more sensitive amongst might also spot them. Finally, some light compression artifacts are also visible from time to time. All in all, clearly this is the
best Taxi has ever looked, but I feel that the presentation could have been even more convincing. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray
release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or
1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).
There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Frech DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. For the record, ARP
Selection has provided optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature. Whent turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar
below it.
The lossless audio track opens up the film exceptionally well. The shootouts are predictably crisp and punchy, but the racing footage is guaranteed to
surprise viewers with its wide range of dynamics. The screeching tires and powerful engines sound great. There are no balance issues. Also, the dialog
is crisp, clean, stable, and easy to follow. The English translation is very good.
Gerard Pires' Taxi was a pretty big hit in Europe when it was released back in 1998. However, despite Luc Besson's involvement with it, the film was never officially released on DVD in the United States. If I recall correctly, around 2001 a lot of people were importing a R3 DVD produced in Thailand, which for a long period of time remained the only quality English-friendly anamorphic release. There is some room for improvement with this new Blu-ray release of Taxi from French label ARP Selection, but I think that it will make a lot of people very happy. RECOMMENDED.
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