Truly I had no clue about what was going on in French director Luc Besson's offbeat, but terribly jerky story involving a sly safe cracker fleeing to the underground Paris Metro, after stealing some important documents off a millionaire that he would try to ransom off to. The bubblegum romantic-crime-drama premise is a washing machine filled with ideas, which are hanging off a very loose, but unpredictable plot. There's not much groundwork, but its impulsive nature, trivial gimmicks and interesting urban environment just gets you caught in the disjointed whirlwind of these strenuously adventurous situations, melancholy despair and eccentric characters. The delirious script never takes itself seriously (the humour is strong) and feels insignificant, but it sure had many awkward and lumpy exchanges. Some passages feel quite useless, and have poor continuity, but there's a certain charm that's hard to resist. The English dubbed version sounds quite terrible though.

It's like Besson has thrown caution to the wind, and is experimenting with his visually sharp prowess and stylish verve to get any sort of impact and details through. His placement, pacing and overall enthusiasm is impeccable. Some action sequences, mainly the opening car chase scene is very well delivered. He draws so much form very little and never seems bounded by logic. From the get-go he storms right in and never lets the smoking composition, slick atmosphere sway off course. Brimming in is an electrifying tacky electronic / rock soundtrack (by Eric Serra) and Carlo Varini's camera-work beautifully illustrates Besson's characteristically moody framings. The worthwhile cast do an admirable job. Christopher Lambert's broodingly dry and grasping performance has an immensely hypnotic ambiance to it. An alluring Isabelle Adjani draws up an infectiously collected, and classy performance. There's enjoyably fine kooky support from Jean-Hughes Anglade, Richard Bohringer, Jean-Pierre Barcri, Michel Galabru and the always delightful Besson regular Jean Reno.

Besson's "Subway" is resourcefully fun and colourful pulp, if a rather jaded experience.

As this film opens our protagonist, Fred, is driving along barely noticing that he is being chased by another car even when it starts ramming him. Once he realises he heads into the Paris Metro where he abandons the car. Here he retreats into the maze of tunnels and meets a variety of characters who appear to live there; Roller, a roller-skating snatch-thief; Big Bill, a bodybuilder, a florist and even a band. We soon learn that Fred is a thief and he has stolen documents from a very dangerous man. He tries to blackmail the man's wife, Héléna, into paying for the documents but ends up developing feelings for her. While this is going of the authorities are looking for Roller and the gangster's men are still searching for Fred.

The way this early film from director Luc Besson opens is clearly a hint of things to come; the car chase might not be as intense as those in the 'Transporter' and 'Taxi' films but shows a similar style and is a lot of fun. Once Fred is in the tunnels of the Paris Metro the characters he meets are as interesting as they are varied. The plot isn't exactly complex and there are few real surprises but that didn't bother me as it mainly served to introduce us to the characters and provide a series of entertaining and somewhat surreal moments. The mostly subterranean setting adds a lot to the great feel of the film. The cast did a fine job, most notably Christopher Lambert, who is on good form as Fred, but also Isabelle Adjani, as Héléna; Jean-Hugues Anglade as the Roller; Richard Bohringer as the florist and Jean Reno as the drummer amongst others. As the film reaches its end we are treated to an impressively bitter-sweet conclusion. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of Luc Besson; it is good stylish fun.

These comments are based on watching the film in French with English subtitles.

Fred (Christopher Lambert) escapes from gangsters stealing some important papers and crashes into the Paris Metro. He in his tux is hiding out in the subway. He negotiates an exchange for ten grand from the gangster's trophy wife Héléna (Isabelle Adjani) but she doesn't pay. He befriends roller-skating thief Jean-Louis whom the cops call Le Roller. Roller introduces him to the underground world of the underground. Roller has a gun and a scheme to rob the weekly subway money transfer.

This is full of the Euro-fun style of Luc Besson. It's full of memorable characters. One of them is Jean Reno as the nameless drummer. The plot is a bit meandering but the visual imagery is unforgettable. Roller skating down the escalator is fun action and Besson injects music like in a music video. The cops are a little inferior stylistically although Batman and Robin is a fun name.