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Director Gerard Peres
Writer Luc Besson
Stars Samy Naceri, Frederic Diefenthal, Marion
Cotillard, Emma Sjoberg, Manuela Gourary
Certificate 15
Running time 90 mins
Made France, 1999
A must see for boy racers and speed demons. The streets of Marseilles
are turned into an arena for some of the most daring car stunts ever committed to celluloid.
He ditches the pizza delivery business to drive a taxi, this being a souped up Peugeot which goes at very high speeds and can deliver businessmen to airports in less time than your average Gallic Hackney carriage driver - or in this case, hackneyed carriage driver. One day, he gives Emilien (Frederic Diefenthal) a lift, little realising that his passenger is a cop, posing as a computer boffin.
Daniel will lose his licence, job and living unless he does a deal with Emilien, who is one of the worst cops on the force. Daniel has to choose: "Pedestrian or cop?" Little wonder he decides to opt for the latter.
And so it goes. The movie is thrilling and although it loses a little by being dubbed into English by a pretty competent crew, you don't pay much attention after the first few minutes. The real star of the show is the cars and stunts which keep you on the edge of your seat for much of the duration.
Luc Besson in 30 days apparently - and it shows.
A lacklustre story, weak characterisation, poor gags and the hero's girlfriend is apparently just obsessed with sex; a far from taxing role for the gorgeous actress Marion Cotillard.
Daniel (Samy Naceri) is an Adam Sandler lookalike pizza delivery man, with a lust for speed. From the opening titles which have the audacity to use Misirilou (the opening theme to Pulp Fiction), we discover he is a master of the road.
He's soon hired as Emilien's driver and brains in an chance to
catch a gang of one dimensional Tutonic bank robbers. Before long, Marseilles pays host to a string of relentless car stunts as this slender tale unfolds.
Just to prove Besson and Pires aren't entirely anti-German, there's an ultra sexy German cop (Emma Sjoberg) who wastes little time in getting into the thick of the action, returning fire in an all out gunfight reminiscent of Michael Mann's Heat.
