Taxista (2021)

Sometimes the law doesn't work

Ok this is the last show i watched and loved it so it is pretty fresh in my mind and maybe this review will get a little long sorry about that. I will try not to put too many spoilers but just in case i warn you there could be some.

Plot: This season is mostly about revenge. The rainbow taxi group have a set up when they try to help people that was mistreated and the law didn't help them. I really like the way they show the clients getting in contact with them: mostly when people try to end their lives because they can't take it anymore, their phone number appears to help them.

This season is dark in a lot of aspects but that makes it good too. The cases they work are real cases (A few days ago i found the one about the company CEO and it is exactly as show in the drama something i found amazing and very brave).

We also get to know more about the team and why they do this something neccesary to understand them.

Characters: We have 5 main characters that for me personally complemented each other real good and it is what gets you hook up on the show. They feel as family at times even when all the scars they carry.

In this season the leader is Jang Sung Chul, the one who got them together. He is a little cocky at the start and doesn't listen to Kim Do Gi when he have doubts about getting help for someone worse than the people they punish and this will be his downfall in a way.

Kim Do Gi is our ML, our real hero, our taxi driver. Of course i'm not that objective since Lee Je Hoon is just sooo good. Soo very good at performing all the parts he really do in here. He isn't only Kim Do Gi he is also all the characters he pretend to be to get the revenge. His tragedy is heartbreaking and i really like everything that happened around it and how he gets some kind of clousure in the end. There is something that he still carries with him to season 2 but i think that is good too, it keeps the character more realistic in a way.

Either way in this season i will say that our hacker, Ahn Go Eun is the one who gets the best arc and the best clousure to her tragedy. That they link a case with her is something brilliant from the writers. Watching how she cries desesperately in her room, unable to move, just finding some comfort in some bandaids that Do Gi give her early on. Amazing performance by Pyo Ye Jin and something that stays with you.

Hightlights: Again i'm not that objetive because i was hooked from the very start, when our taxi driver appears to take a killer who was release earlier for good behavior. The first episode set the tone right away and i guess you get on it or probably won't enjoy it. For me everything is good: The plot, the acting, the music, all fits perfectly. I will say episode 14 is an all time good one, what happens almost kill me, it got me on the end of my seat. Amazing.

Negatives: Ok, we need to suspend disbelief in some cases. Kim Do Gi is the typycal action hero (Hawai 5.0 anyone?) so it seems nothing can't hurt him. It gets a little weird when after a beating with a baseball bat he is just like a day in a hospital but wel this happen in this kind of shows.

Also in one of the final eps we see prosecutor Kang Ha Na and Kim Do Gi go see the social worker from Maria's case (The first one) and she is in a mental hospital, traumatized because her time in Baek cell. i felt that they wanted us to feel sad for her, to show us that revenge doesn't always work but it felt flat on me. In the end this one took advantage of disable people so really i can't feel sad for her.

In conclusion, I love it and i really will recomend it to anyone.

Special shout out to Wang Tao Chi and Madam Li because really hilarious ;).

Leia Mais

Entertaining but inconsistent tone

While I really enjoyed the show, I don't think I could give it a 9 or 10. It started off really interesting with a great premise however, nearing the second half the writing started to feel rushed and inconsistent.

We were introduced to Hana as a committed prosecutor who followed the law precisely, but by the end of the show, she didn't mind bending the rules for a good cause. Normally, I wouldn't have minded this but as a viewer it was confusing because she kept changing her mind right until the last 2 episodes. After finding the prison she concluded that being a dark hero was just as bad as being a criminal (I didn't mind this change of heart.) But then she changed her mind again in the last half hour of the show without much explanation again. After saving the taxi team from going to prison she planned to resign because she felt she could no longer act as a prosecutor (this I understood), but then we see in the last few minutes that she joined the taxi team. I felt that this could have been explained a bit more. My issue with this is that it didn't feel like character development but rather inconsistent writing, it all happened so fast.

I also felt that the show could have held a stronger stance on the dark hero/vigilante message. They did a great job with this in the first half but not so much in the second half. It felt like the writers were taking the safer route. I understand that the characters realized their prison was not the best idea (I agree with that too lol) but then they decided to "quit" the whole taxi business and let the law do its thing. I'm assuming they did this to surprise the viewers when the taxi team came back together a year later, but it was just a little confusing. Like I said it felt a little rushed and like they were taking a safe stance on the dark hero message. Whereas in Vincenzo I feel like they didn't shy away from this. I'm wondering if the tone would have been more consistent if it was just one writer. I haven't read the webtoon, but I'm curious to see if they approached the vigilante theme similar to the drama.

BUT regardless of this I REALLY did enjoy watching the show, I just felt it could have been executed slightly better.

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Revenge will bite you back

This drama has been the guru of all revenge movies…

Not a melodrama material. However ten times the fun.

Must warn for all the blood and gore, violence and angst, swearing words. This drama for sure and for real has that truth beyond the truth essence in life.
Each episodes depicts the harsh truth for the weak must suffer. Retaliation then made by this awesome not so ordinary party of five. Each has their painful story and each face their demons, eventually.

Villains are on another level of viciousness. Again, viewers consideration is highly recommended. Be very wise and thoughtful and keep in mind this is just story telling with intense visualization. So when it get too intense quickly take three minute pause, get a soda for a sip or just make sure to watch it with a friend.

Acting is top notch. Lee Je Hoon is on a roll of yet hit wonder. Have been adoring him with this type of genre, ever since Signal.
Then again, this production has an amazing ensemble cast. Heroes, villain and victims are played with excellent acting skill.
OST and BGM are well orchestrated. It is like the utmost perfect set up. Watching this drama from start to end is such a revelation that action super heroes film can be made as real as this. Without extreme CGI or embellished costume suit. Even their villain is scarier than some loony scientist or billionaire gone mad.

This drama deserves more seasons. It even has the perfect ep 16 ending. Superb!

Leia Mais

I don't normally write reviews....

So this is probably the second time I'm writing a review. I heard a lot about Taxi Driver before I gave it a chance and what pushed me to watch it was a friend's recommendation who's really picky about what she watches and the reviews on MDL.

First of all, for someone who's lost a loved one to similar incidents as portrayed in the show and can empathise with the plot and the characters, this is a great show to which I can connect at a deeper level than someone who hasn't experienced something similar.

I love how Lee Je Hoon perfectly portrayed Kim Do Gi, a man driven by his need to protect other people from going through everything he went through and Kang Ha Na (Esom) who didn't want to believe that the law was flawed, changed her idea about how justice was delivered.

I loved the cast for this show, they were familiar faces, good actors who played their characters well.

I'll admit that at the end the show became a bit predictable but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I enjoyed it a lot.

Its one of those shows, when you reach a certain point, you just know that it's different.

9.5/10

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amazing cast, amazing plot and fight scenes? count me in.

*sighs* i don't even know where to begin.
when i started to watch taxi driver, it was already episode 11 and even though it's very hard for me to watch 10 episodes in a row without getting tired ou bored, i couldn't stop watching -- and not because of the plot itself, but also because of the relationship you created with the characters.

taxi driver brings a contradictional situation because you don't want to be a criminal, but at the same time, since criminals do bad things do good people, you want them to suffer. so i personally think they were able to work with that very well: the characters are conscious of what they're doing; they know they aren't heroes, but they can't be silent in a situation of injustice.

the "taxi driver" group has such a funny dynamic! it's not a work that can be done alone and because they need each other very much and because the reason they're working in there is similar, they really look like a family. and their relationship is so so so captivating that you just want to see more of it. since the begining it's clear that every opinion matters.

another thing that made me enjoy so much is the fact that episodes have like their own plot (that is lowkey related to a main plot). i think that this kind of storyline is so interesting, because you're able to show a lot stories and create a lot of scenarios that need to be shown and that need to be discussed without compromising the whole drama.

of course you can find some flaws in the story. for example, i didn't understand much of the process of keeping the "villains" arrested in a cell, i've never read any foucault, but i don't think that was going to work out fine. and in the end, specially the 15-16 episodes i thought they just mixed a lot of things and it was such a rush... the end itself (the last scenes) is good but i think that the drama was supposed to end in the episode 14 and afterwards they just added stuff to have 16 episodes. (but that's my personal opinion).

well, basically: taxi driver is an amazing drama, with and amazing cast, with a good character development and with a lot of funny scenes... AND FIGHT SCENES (with i personally love). it makes you lose a little bit of hope in humanity, but it also makes you promise yourself that you'll never shut up in situations of injustice........... and that you'll never transfer money after receving a call from a prossecutor office.

(ps. english is not my mother language, so i apologize for any mistakes)

Leia Mais

Is Revenge Really Justified?

Taxi Driver Season 1 (2021)

Likes
1. Yay i love the Rainbow Taxi Squad!! Their teamwork, their disguises and cases were so cool. Esp love the invincible Kim Dogi.
2. My favorite cases were the voice phishing with Madame and the hs bully with #Choihyunwook and #Leeminjae. All the other cases were almost connected with the main storyline of the female villain. I also loved and cried at Go Eun's sister's story.
3. Most shocking cliffhanger ending was ep 12 because i didnt expect Minho to die. Hana just had a debate with Dogi that the she doesnt understand how the victims feel until she experienced it first hand. And even went to Dogi for help.
4. More than the cases, the story was about justice through the system or justice at the hands of a few people. Sometimes courts take too long and the law doesnt appropriately punish the perpretrators. Who will defend the victim and family? But i also liked what one of the bad guys said to Dogi, why is your revenge justified but mine isnt?

Im ready for season 2!! Hoping for Dogi x Goeun romance please!!

Dislikes
1. Kang Hana could have been smarter and faster when investigating. Most of the time she needed clues from the Rainbow Taxi.
2. The Udata episode and the twins went a bit too long, this could have been done in 14 episodes or less. They even added a last minute twist in the last 2 eps about Kim Dogi's mom's real killer.

Rating: 8.75/10

Leia Mais

Pour mener à bien une vengeance, vous vous perdez également...

J’ai commencé ce drama après avoir vu la critique plus qu’élogieuse de « achuland » (que je remercie d’ailleurs, je serai sans doute passée à côté si je n’avais pas lu sa critique =D).

Ce drama change un peu de ce que j’ai l’habitude de voir. Pourquoi me direz-vous ? Car ici, nous mettons en avant les familles de victimes d’assassinats… Nous voyons souvent des séries traitant de tueur en série ainsi que la reconstruction de la famille de ces assassins… Mais nous voyons rarement comment la famille des victimes fait face à cette perte plus que douloureuse…

Courte introduction : L’histoire nous conduit au cœur d’une organisation qui se veut réformer les criminels violents, sous le couvert d’une association d’aide aux familles des victimes.
Nous retrouvons en son sein une équipe particulière ayant eux-mêmes été sujet à la perte d’être(s) cher(s) & souhaitant aider les personnes qui comme eux ont trop perdu. C’est ainsi, qu’ils se lancent dans une quête de vengeance pour toutes ces personnes lésées…

Au fur & à mesure des vengeances, nous découvrons petit à petit chacun des membres de l’équipe & faisons face à leur passé ainsi qu’à leur gestion du deuil… Mais nous devons également faire face aux histoires de leurs clients qui sont plus « abominables » les unes que les autres… Il est clair que ce drama nous montre des crimes d’une violence extrême… Cependant, il nous permet de nous questionner & ne laisse pas indifférent !

L’histoire nous mène dans un questionnement assez profond… Au final, comment faire son deuil ? Comment accepter que la personne qui nous a tout pris puisse continuer sa vie alors que nous n’arrivons pas à nous reconstruire ? Ce drama nous montre ici la « vengeance » mais également la procédure de pensée du leader de l’organisation. Il rêve de faire que les criminels ne commettent plus d’acte(s) abjecte(s) mais à quel prix ? Pour réaliser ses aspirations, il devient lui-même un être douteux… Alors finalement, comment réaliser quoi que ce soit en restant le plus humain possible ? J’imagine qu’il est difficile d’arriver à une conclusion satisfaisante…

Cette histoire, comme de nombreuses sur la criminalité, nous montre encore la puissance des conglomérats… Plus on est puissant, plus il est difficile de nous attraper… (Est-ce ainsi dans la vie réelle ? Sans doute en partie…)

Le seul petit point noir pour moi dans cette série est que Kim Do-Gi ressemble plus à un « super-héros » qu’à un être humain à proprement parler… Pourquoi ? On le voit souvent se battre… Je veux bien qu’il ait été à l’armée & qu’il soit « badasse » mais il y a des limites… La scène où il est kidnappé par le président de « U-Data » en est sûrement le meilleur exemple. Excusez-moi mais… Vu le nombre de coups (à mains nues comme à l’aide d’armes…) qu’il a reçu, il est techniquement IMPOSSIBLE pour un être humain de s’en sortir sans séquelles & pire encore… Sans aller à l’hôpital =O !!!

Vous l’aurez sans doute compris, j’ai apprécié mon visionnage & vivre ces aventures avec cette petite équipe que j’ai hâte de retrouver dans une deuxièmes saison. (En espérant qu’ils gardent le même casting =D)

Leia Mais

Amateur vigilante wannabes

An episodic story about a group of people who take revenge on criminals on behalf of the victims. This certainly brings to mind Jigoku Shōjo: Girl from Hell but far from the supernatural approach, this drama tries to appeal to the viewers humanity with its propaganda of forgiveness and what happens when the law fails to protect the family of the victims and they decide to take matters into their own hands. Take note that the crimes presented are based on real life crimes committed in South Korea.

The group of vigilante wannabes is certainly equipped to deal with the requests. A rich financier, the muscle/fighter, the cyber technologist, the mechanical engineer and the inventor and of course a secret base. Watching how they deal with each request was certainly fun and entertaining. However, in spite of having done this for several years, the group doesn't seem to have learned much from their experience and even the fact that this is "fiction" is no excuse for their incompetence.

Several times throughout the series you will see them taking actions or making decisions that seasoned veterans like them wouldn't have made. Knowing their potential because of their experience made it a pain to watch them. It almost seemed like their SNAFUs were deliberately added simply to fit into the narrative and keep the story going.

Camera work during fight scenes tried so hard to imitate the shaky technique popularised by the Bourne trilogy but failed as miserably as the Vagabond series. Choreography was already good without the excessive shaking and close ups of the fight.

The last case was the dumbest in that in spite of being based on true events, whoever wrote the episode simply glossed over how the police framed and tortured and knowingly sent an innocent man to prison just so they could close the case - was it perhaps because it would become too realistic? Did the showrunners receive a slap in the hand that they were afraid to include a revenge arc against the brutal police force?
I'm not interested in season 2 so we may never find out.

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Taxi Driver - A revenge drama that's bone-deep satisfying!

Taxi Driver, for me, has been one of the most enjoyable dramas this year.

The script is not perfect or excellent by any means. There are some plot holes, and the villains are pretty one-dimensional.
The taxi team isn't trying particularly hard to keep their secret taxi business private, and they weren't very smart or secretive with how they operated. There were also some illogical fight scenes where the ML takes on around 30 bad guys by himself continuously and still manages to beat them all. The narrative also slightly changed around the episodes when the writer was switched, leading the tone of the drama to become more serious as we moved to the finale. There were a few issues like these peppered throughout the drama.

But so what? I didn't start watching this drama for a perfect script with no plot holes. I watched this show to see bad guys get beat up and our vigilante taxi team get the justice they deserve. I wanted to see camaraderie and friendship, flawed heroes, vigilante justice, fight scenes, and thrilling car chases - and that is precisely what I got.

Taxi driver right from episode 1 tells us what kind of show it's going to be and stays consistent through the 16 episodes. It's not trying to be a smart or complex show, and that is its strength. It promised us revenge, vigilante justice, teamwork, and triumph of good over evil, and that's exactly what it delivers.

Here are some of the things I loved about the drama;

1) The perfect ending - This, folks, is how an ending should be done. No rush; they just spent the last 40 mins of the drama showing us the aftermath and how all our favorite characters' lives have gone on since the big finale.

2) Lee Je Hoon is brilliant. I love him more and more with each show I watch. I think he is one of the most versatile actors, and I loved him in this. There are parts where he disguises himself, and the different roles he plays are such a delight to watch.

3) The fight scenes are well done , even if a little unbelievable. I enjoyed watching Lee Je Hoon beat up almost everyone other than the taxi team. I also read that he filmed the action/driving scenes himself without a stunt double, which made me like him even more.

4) The cases that our Taxi Team deals with are truly heartbreaking. They showed some stories based on true cases in South Korea, which added a nice dash of reality to the show.

5) The camaraderie of the Taxi team is a joy to watch. Their backstories made me feel angry on their behalf. Their motivations for joining the Taxi team and dishing out their own brand of justice for victims similar to them were understandable and made me cheer for their lawless brand of justice throughout the show.

6) The OST deserves a special mention. I love the instrumental BGM themes and the music, especially the songs by YB and Cha Ji Yeon.

I would have given this a 7.5, which is still a good rating for me, but Lee Je Hoon, the OST, and the ending push it to 8.

8/10. Very Enjoyable.

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