Review of Taxi Driver (1976) by Rabih H — 07 Sep 2013

Im a huge fan of Scorsese, so what I am about to say next might not make sense; What the hell was that? How did this get 96% reviews? Did people actually watch this movie? Or maybe they're reviewing a different movie? Did I get a bad copy, because something doesn't add up here!

I have met at least 10 people who have called Taxi Driver one of their favorite movies. I have read reviews that make it seem like the creme de la creme of 70's film-making. They've thrown around words like "master piece" when describing this film. It's directed by Scorsese and stars Robert De Nero for God's sake, that should make it a sure thing.... right?

WRONG!

This movie is a piece of horse dung wrapped in elephant droppings. It's a complete dud. It could quite possibly be the most boring film ever.

It's a character study, yes I know, but what the hell people? It just sits there, farting movie images and story that goes in circles and does nothing. NOTHING! Nothing happens.

The worst part in all of this? It took forever to just to get to its point, which is NOTHING again!!! This movie must be at least a week long. At least that's how long it felt. It took almost 90 minutes for SOMETHING to happen God dang it! Is this Scorsese's idea of suspense? If so, kindly reevaluate your meaning of life and why we exist.

This is that type of movie, that you start thinking it's gonna blow your socks off, and ends up being just a disaster. DISASTER! My brain hurt, I started hallucinating, thinking about lightning strikes destroying my TV so we wouldn't have to suffer any longer. I love films, why did this one have to exist?

Which leads me to my next point: There is no reason this movie should have been made in the first place. It's a movie where nothing happens. And we see a man doing nothing. Then interacting with other people who do nothing. Then they do nothing together, until, yeah nothing.

At the end of the movie granted there is a little action. A little. Very minuscule amount. Almost negligible. Nobody tell me that that justifies the 2 hours of torture that precede it!

De Nero is a good actor, and he performs well. But it's still not enough to make this movie entertaining to anyone but the most patient of movie-goers.

Try to avoid this movie at all costs. I thinking forcing someone to sit through this boring film is tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment and is subject to the Geneva Convention.