Taxi Driver

The cast will definitely woo you to watch this! ?

For those of you who have not watched this drama is missing out big time!!!! A webtoon adaptation, this one's a brilliant series. Each 2 episodes follows up with a case of justice and not a repeated storyline. The initial Opening OST is so mesmerising that gives you an adrenaline rush. An amazing cast, great harmony amongst them with details pertaining to each character's individual growth as well as screen time, it gives justice not only to the perpetrators but also to each actor and a message to each one of us. The cameos are to watch out for as they are brilliant too. I had a great time watching this drama and would definitely recommend it to all. Loved it throughout.

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A THRILLING RIDE OF JUSTICE, ACTION, AND HEART

It is a thrilling mix of action, emotion, and social commentary that keeps you hooked from start to finish. The revenge driven story is both entertaining and meaningful, blending suspense, humor and heartfelt moments. Lee Je Hoon delivers a standout performance, especially in his intense action scenes, while the Rainbow taxi team adds depth and warmth with compelling characters like Go Eun.

Though the antagonists are often forgettable and some cases resolved feel a bit unrealistic, the gripping episodic stories, many inspired by real life crimes, carry strong emotional weight.

The pacing is steady and engaging, the writing is impactful, and the soundtrack heightens the tension even if it's not individually memorable. Despite average cinematography, the drama leaves a lasting impact and stands out as one of the most engaging show in its genre.

Plot 8.5/10
Acting and Characters 9/10
Cinematography 8/10
Writing 9/10
Pacing 8/10
OST/Score 8/10

Overall 8.5/10

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Story that Explodes into a Thrilling Adventure but Concludes by Flickering Out Like a Weak Candle

It's impossible to discuss this show without talking about spoilers. However, I will be clearly marking when I start talking about specific plot points with a separator. Until then, I'll be discussing the overall feel of the series.

The beginning of this show establishes an addictive, semi-formulaic, action-thriller that you can't help but become pumped for. Bad guys do bad stuff and get away with it, leaving behind victims. The law isn't able to prove or punish the bad guys. Good guys don't like this. Good guys go full-Batman vigilante by infiltrating the evil operation and taking revenge on behalf of the victims. It sounds really simple but it is an amazingly fun roller coaster ride that has you saying "yeah!!!" when the good guys succeed. The action set pieces, such as the car chase/battles or fistfights are fun on their own right, but the OST dials up the excitement to a million. There is a video-game sounding, retro track that plays when the background of the victim is being explained and they are making the decision whether or not they want the protagonists to get revenge on their behalf -- as the viewer, you quickly become conditioned to say "oh man, stuff is going to go down now!!!". Then, the phrenic action music starts and your emotions go full adrenaline overdrive as you hear the theme song. It is ridiculous how excited I was for this show.

The acting was fully on point, as expected from a Korean drama production. Some people complain that Lee Je Hoon overacts, but if he does, it fits him perfectly in this series because he needs to exaggerate himself when he disguises himself in order to sneak into the baddies' lairs. Some of the action sequences might have been a little better, but overall, I thought his performance was stellar. The rest of the main cast is amazing: Pyo Je Jin was pulled in last minute to replace a controversial actress, and I did not notice at all - if you had told me she was planned to be a female lead all along, I'd have believed you. Esom and Kim Eui Sang also play their roles excellently. Cha Ji Yeon is notable for playing the shady, underground character, very, very well and I thought her maniacal laugh fit her very well. The acting was mostly amazing.

But unfortunately, that is not the end of my review. This show was almost a 10/10, but unfortunately, it was marred by a really jarring tonal shift midway through the series. Episode 9 and 10 felt like filler since we had gotten some real, longitudinal story arc as well as character backgrounds, but they just kind of went back to the "same old formula". But, at around Episode 10, the lead writer left due to creative differences and the change is really, really noticeable.

It is at this point that I need to address plot specific points in order to explain why this was not the greatest event.

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD
IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ PLOT POINTS STOP NOW
SERIOUSLY THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING
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In the beginning half of the show, each main character's backstory is revealed and is very consistent with their motivations. Kim Do Gi's mother was killed and he never got the chance to get revenge on the killer. Anh Go Eun's sister committed suicide after a sex tape was leaked by a man who secretly filmed her. Kang Ha Na is a stubbornly righteous prosecutor who refuses to bend the rules and relentless. Even the characters who are not as initially well developed are consistent: Jang Sung Chul is the wealthy taxi service owner who also suffered from lack of ability to take revenge, so he bankrolls the operation under the guise of his legit business. Baek Sung Mi is a shady business owner who controls the prison they send the captured baddies that the protagonists successfully take revenge on. It is all very clear what everyone's roll in this universe is.

And then, all of a sudden, some of the characters just completely lose themselves and some of the writing stops making sense. Kang Ha Na's character is the most guilty of this: even though she was initially frustrating to viewers, I think her role was to show us the failure of the "righteous, lawful way". Her colleague's death pushes her to start supporting the Rainbow Taxi protagonists, which I thought was fine, but then she suddenly forgets how to do her job: there is one scene in particular where they are holding Kim Do Gi, and she flagrantly and straightforwardly lets him go, which is noticed by her coworker and that is just somehow...fine? I think at minimum, her coworkers might have some ethical concerns about her actions, and might, you know, start raising questions about whether she is fit to continue doing her job. There are additional problems of this nature: for example, she would use insider information obtained by the Rainbow Taxi team and just send a huge task force to an unknown location...on a hunch? How would she explain how she knows this info? The writing just stops being sensible.

This culminates in the ending, which I am going to call the "maximal happy ending". The ultimate baddie is identified: the true killer of Kim Do Gi's mother, who is already jailed. Therefore, the team is going to take revenge by....tricking him into beating up his own son, who is coincidentally a jail guard, coincidentally has no idea who his father is, even though the Rainbow Taxi team didn't do anything to ensure that the baddie would FOR SURE beat up the son. I watched that scene and it made no sense to me: they couldn't know that the baddie would trick the son in getting close. And this gets worse in my opinion: the team decides they will turn themselves in. However, Kang Ha Na lets Kim Do Gi go and she tries to resign, but her boss inexplicably resigns instead in order to ensure that they bury the investigation they have on the Rainbow Taxi team while the team members themselves agree to shut down the operation....and then one year later, all of the taxi crew have ridiculous new jobs (one of them is a rocket scientist 'cause...you know), and have somehow revived the operation with Kang Ha Na as one of the new members of the crew. Did I also mention that her boss, who resigned, somehow charged the big baddie with framing an innocent man, even though we had already established earlier that the statue of limitations had past? It doesn't make complete sense.

So the verdict? This show has a lot of excellent, amazing elements in the first half to first two-thirds of this show that make it worth your watch. However, the real life creative disagreements of the production team can clearly be felt in the latter part of the show. It was SO close in being a 10/10, fun show. Try it out -- you won't be disappointed.

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Dropped then rewatched

I really liked this drama at the beginning, I thought the stories were interesting and I enjoy revenge dramas cause it’s satisfying. However Kang Ha Na’s character just annoyed me so much, like I understand she was just doing her job but I just wanted her to BACK OFF. So I dropped it and then I had nothing else to watch so I rewatched it AND THANK GOD she started kinda working/ understanding them, so she became less annoying. I just wanted her to stop ruining their operations.

The rainbow taxi team’s relationship was nice, I liked the way they worked together, but the main character Kim Do Gi was so OP that sometimes it was laughable. He could literally survive anything and his IQ is like 1000 apparently. I don’t know what kind of training he got in the military but he was unrealistically strong and smart. And he got hurt so many times but he never suffered any long term damages or even scars lol, but the villains used to get one punch and they would be on the floor. Anyway it was fun to watch tho cause it was just like let’s see how he survives now. I did like the fight scenes tho, my fav one was the night vision POV one, I thought that was quite creative and a cool way to show the fight.

Another thing that was funny was how the roads were ALWAYS CLEAR. Sometimes even in the day time the roads were empty and they would be doing the most with the cars- car chase, accidents, explosions, idek what else but it would just be them.

I thought it was quite ironic that the law they complained about and fought against the whole drama, was the thing that kept them out of prison because of the ‘lack of evidence’.

Also, I didn’t understand in episode 16, I thought Oh Cheol Yeong’s son did know that Oh Cheol Yeong was his dad, because of the scene in the toilet where he has the flashback? But then they concluded that he didn’t know who his dad was? I’m confused.

Overall I did enjoy the drama, the stories were interesting and the acting was very good from most of the actors/ actresses. I think most of the stories were based on true stories, which made it more heartbreaking.

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Alternative to a crap legal system

With a high budget feel, great stunts, bags of action and a credible cast, this was a pretty thrilling drama.
Plenty of revenge providing satisfying viewing when a multitude of incredibly unsavoury characters, got their judgement calls.
I honestly felt like this drama was giving a pretty big finger to the country's very flawed legal system, which favours wealthy and connected citizens over guilty ones.
It was a little odd, therefore, to include details and phone numbers for various crime departments at the end of episodes. A Premium Taxi Service one would be better.
Some of the cases made for very disturbing viewing, from violent bullying to rape, sexual assault and murder.
It is a very violent series, so those affected by realistic cases and cruelty, should avoid it.
It's pretty OTT, but for the vast majority of the time, gets away with that comfortably. It feels weird to say I enjoyed it, but I did, more than not.
I only rolled my eyes up in disbelief a couple of times and was made to laugh occasionally too.
One episode near the end even made me cry; because the hurt was understated and realistic, not melodramatic.
At one point, when the initial storyline was wrapped up, it did drag/dip somewhat and I thought they shouldn't have stretched it to 16 eps. However, it then picked up again and I enjoyed it to the end.
There is one factual case in a latter episode's epilogue, involving a trumped up, wrongful conviction. This resulted in an innocent man spending a long time in prison and it also really disturbed and angered me, because it involved an 8-year old child. What the police back at the time did, was shocking, shameful and unforgivable.
It really is like the writers (they were changed part way through following a disagreement between the original and director) want the country to recognise how flawed and corrupt their systems are, and how they let people down. An argument for the statute of limitations being dropped was also featured, which is applied by many countries and enables perpetrators of older cold cases to get off . Same applies to double jeopardy really.
I loved both Lee Je Hoon and Esom in this; perfect for their roles. Not a weak actor in it.
Whilst the action was often pretty fantastical, it's still a thought provoking watch.
The OST was suitably heavy rock orientated, in fact sometimes a little too much so, but overall pretty good and appropriate.

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Great Start but Can't Hold On

As someone who like multiple cases in one show, I like this. The idea of helping people getting revenge is really good. Unfortunately as the story progressing, it annoys me more and more. As a group who is specializing in revenge, they work carelessly and keep making "rookie" mistakes. The turning lamp in the mirror is such an embarassment. Another silly mistake is when Jin-Eon crashed by a truck, they somehow allow Ju-Chan to run away easily. They somehow always feel invincible like nobody will watch them kidnapping or abducting someone, while on the other hand they can easily hack any surveillance cameras and see what the bad guys are doing. It seems contradicting when we have a very powerful and unstoppable character, which is the hero and is undestandable, but he keeps making stupid decisions.

The first half of the show is good, but it becomes dragging after they begin to work for themselves instead of the clients. The plot becomes predictable from there, and the makjangs become too much. They even forget about Dong-Hee's family, the one who request to get revenge on Sung-Mi after all!

Still this show is highly recommended! The whole cast play excellently, and the highlight is absolutely Lee Je-Hoon as Kim Do-Gi. The music is quite good, and it's really recommeded to rewatch for the eye-pleasing action scenes!

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Jolly Good Fun

Looking for something sweet and happy? TURN BACK! Do you believe the criminal justice system is always right? YOU'RE IN THE WRONG PLACE! Are you in the mood for a butt load of action, suspense and revenge? LOOK NO FURTHER!
This show is so much more than what I thought it was going to be. You're emotions will run wild with this series in all the right ways. The plot twists were outta this world with satisfying bolts of craziness and you can't deny this is something we need in the real world, which is what makes this show so relatable and "fun". lol It's action packed from beginning to end with all the heart racing punches and winching uppercuts you could ask for. If you don't think the criminal justice system is warped this is NOT the show for you but I whole heartedly am convinced you'll love it none the less.
Enjoy...

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I like being succinct
When I first saw the title and the storyline, I didn't think it was for me. But then I gave myself a chance to watch it, and I was amazed, actually I still am.

The acting in this was excellent, what I liked the most was the taxi itself. I've watched quite a number of series with cars as one of the main concentrations, they are good, but not that feasible. In taxi driver, the taxi they used! You can relate to it, like it's not too fictious... You get what I mean. The music was okay too.

As I said, I like being brief... Taxi driver!, Is a must watch.

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the law does not gurantee justice

crimes are committed daily, and the perpetrators do not always receive proper punishment. rainbow taxi is an organisation run by people who were let down by the law in the past and decided to seek justice for those who experienced the same lack of it as they had.
'taxi driver' is dark and violent, but in the best way possible. it depicts various cases, all based on real crimes; that's why this drama feels so realistic. it shows that we should not close our eyes to how evil and rotten the world can be. on the other hand, watching our rainbow taxi team is pure joy. with their mutual trust and support, those individuals create an excellent contrast to the fierce plot itself.
and now, all i am hoping for is a confirmation of season 2.

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Should you watch it? Yes, especially if you are into action/crime/violence

This rating is specifically based on my enjoyment of the show. Let me explain...

What I loved:
-Lee Je Hoon was excellent. The scene where he was with the reporters and confronted the killer. Oh my gosh, his anguish. Watch his neck during those scenes, it was heartbreaking. He's got the "cold/cool" guy down to an art form, but you could feel how he cared for his team and the victims they worked for.
-Esom as the prosecutor. I know a lot of people were saying that she was irritating, but that was the way she was supposed to be. I thought her arc from sticking strictly to the letter of the law to moving into a gray area was very interesting. I was looking forward to her joining the team and was disappointed to find that she isn't in season 2.
-The team. Funny, quirky, excellent at their jobs, I loved the found family feel of them. I liked how the writers showed that they were smarter than the criminals. Thank you for not making a romance between ML and hacker!
-The cases. I liked seeing them don different characters to take down the bad guys. I would have preferred if they stuck with a client per episode instead of the last part of the drama focusing on one big bad situation.
-I didn't have any difficulty with the ML always winning every fight. It made me root for him even more.

The reason for my lower rating:
-This isn't my typical genre and I thought it was excessively violent, often at the expense of the story. I was bothered by the language as well.
-Product placement was pretty obvious.
-The one glaring thing for me was, considering how they've been doing business all this time, flying under the radar, the prosecutor didn't have any trouble figuring it out and finding their lair.

I will watch Season 2, but I'm hoping for more cases and less violence.

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Taking a new spin on revenge...

I really enjoyed so much about "Taxi Driver" and its unique spin on anti-heroes and revenge thrillers, but I also found it messy and even a little hard to follow at times. The Rainbow Taxi Company concept is great and hooked me instantly. I loved the Batman vibes and the based on a true story element to each episode, but the overall plot is all over the place and is saved by a dynamic cast and some epic action sequences. Mainly Lee Je Hoon as Kim Do Gi being awesome!

Lee Je Hoon is so amazingly good! I know he has had other great roles but this really is a star vehicle (pun intended) for him! Whether he's casually beating up a gang of thugs, driving fast and furious style, or in hilarious disguise, he is impressive. Also, add to that the emotion he can bring to the role that makes his motivation believable and easy to root for, even while he's clearly breaking the law. He is ultimately what kept me interested from the beginning until the end, especially when parts of the story were frustrating or didn't work for me. Kim Do Gi is the most consistent thing about this whole drama and worth a recommendation to watch on his own.

The rest of the cast is great too. Some of the characters definitely annoyed me, but it was never the actors' fault, even when the performances were super campy. First, there is Kim Eui Sung as
Jang Sung Chul, who I always love as a villain, but it's nice to see him in this light. He still had some duplicity in his performance that he does so well, even as the good guy-ish lol. Pyo Ye Jin, Jang Hyuk Jin, and Bae Yoo Ram play the rest of the team and I loved their unique personalities and care for each other. My one complaint is that Pyo Ye Jin as Ahn Go Eun took a mostly passive role in one storyline that really bothered me. She eventually makes up for it, but I still feel like her character could have been much stronger considering her overall role on the team. Esom as Prosecutor Kang Ha Na was another character that frustrated me. In an attempt to create a rivalry I feel like her character became unreasonably one-note. This also got better towards the end, but I just really dislike the stubborn cop getting in the way trope, and I wish there was more to her character earlier on. She does have interesting chemistry with Kim Do Gi but don't expect anything beyond mutual admiration to come from it.

The shadier characters on the other hand are entertaining but also very cartoony. Cha Ji Yeon has a double role that is pretty impressive and Cha Ji Yeon is almost like a Disney villain as Baek Sung Mi. On the opposite end, you have Lee Yoo Joon as Wang Min Ho who is just super likable and good balance for Ha Na. All of the guest characters were great too which kept the episodes interesting and made you root for the Deluxe Taxi even more. It's hard to go too much into detail without spoilers, but I'm also glad they took extra time to go deeper into some of the revenge stories beyond just focusing on a specific crime and its aftermath.

If you don't like disturbing storylines then this is not a drama from you. This is definitely a crime drama at its core with a ripped from the headlines law & order-y feel. The vigilante twist is what makes this drama unique as well as the clever way they recruit new clients. Where I think this drama messes up is that it seemed like they didn't really think through what the Taxi Company's ultimate goal was and hearing it explained didn't make much sense. Then a sudden plot twist seemed to be thrown in just to give the story a direction, but that plot felt rushed through too. I did like what felt like a change in direction in characters, especially the women characters, and that they seemed to intensify the action scenes. Some of the action sequences in the second half are truly DAEBAK, and are so good I didn't really care what was happening in the story if I'm honest. I also liked the moment where they slipped in some real true-crime footage which did get me right in the feels (even if it contradicted earlier scenes). I just wished the entire plot felt more cohesive.

Would I watch this again? Maybe, but I think I would much rather just watch some of the action sequences again. I did like the dynamic between the characters while watching the first time but I would be much more curious about the possibilities of a season 2... which seemed very possible judging by the final scene (which I loved).

Overall I enjoyed this drama for what it did well and not necessarily as a complete story. I would still recommend it because what it does well is more than enough to entertain! I laughed, I teared up, I was horrified, and I cheered. I love that they challenged what justice is and empowered victims and their families. By the end, I was ok with forgiving all plot holes and too easily resolved conflicts. In the spirit of choosing to seek revenge or not, if you're choosing whether to watch this drama or not, I feel like "Taxi Driver" is a drama I can forgive and will never forget.

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