Christopher Lambert, Isabelle Adjani, Jean-Hugues Anglade

Flixster Users

72% liked it

5,372 ratings

Critics

86% liked it

7 critics

R, 1 hr. 38 min.

Directed by: Luc Besson

Release Date: November 6, 1985

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: January 7, 1999

Get It:

Stats: 325 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Your Rating



clear rating
Share on: Facebook Twitter

Flixster Reviews (325)


  • September 14, 2009
    What I like about this film is that it can never be remade, its an original that can't be touched, from an era that I feel can never be mimicked. You could try to copy or reproduce the style but it could never be convincing. It's a great film, made when Lambert was a good actor!
  • August 28, 2009
    Weird film this, I'll be honest here, I didn't really get what was going on haha just very strange. Some regulars turn up, Reno and Anglade (both very young looking, Reno with hair!!) and do sterling work in their roles but its just a very weird film, much like Lambert's acting s...( read more)tyle and haircut. Nice imagery throughout though and a good car chase at the start somehow keep you attached...here and there :)
  • July 30, 2009
    So friggin' 80s... I couldn't get through Fifth Element, but this was a more watchable early outing from director Luc Besson. Punk rock style and new wave music reign supreme in this film which, perhaps with subtitles instead of dubbing (I had an old DVD, I guess), might have bee...( read more)n more enjoyable. Style over substance, and a better ending than beginning: you can see Besson's style being born, [insert other faint egghead critical praise here], yada yada yada... it's a style you like or you don't, too bad I'm in the latter camp.
  • April 10, 2008
    I figured--hey, a Luc Besson film for three bucks? How can you go wrong with that? I have a masochistic appreciation for Christophe (no r!) Lambert's strange style of acting (mostly fostered by his most famous role as Connor MacLeod) so this was an easy choice for me.

    Knowing th...( read more)e variations that exist in Besson's films (which include, if you don't know, The Fifth Element, Léon (aka The Professional), Nikita (aka La Femme Nikita), and Le Grand Bleu) I had no idea what I was in for when I decided to watch this. I knew a chunk of Besson's work, Lambert's and even Adjani's, but didn't know much of anything about this film. Fred (Lambert) is a thief who has recently stolen sensitive materials from Héléna (Adjani) and her husband and hides himself in the Paris Métro, ransoming the documents for money, or so his notes and calls claim, but in fact to gain time alone with Héléna. He forms strange bonds with existing occupants of the underground like "The Roller Skater" (Jean-Hughes Anglade), a purse snatcher who is never seen out of his roller skates and various (eventual) band members with no real names--including Jean Reno as "the drummer" (seen constantly with a pair of drumsticks playing rhythms on whatever is at hand). Fred is trying to bring Héléna out of the upper class world she lives in and down into his, showing her the reckless joy of it over the stifled monetary plateaus of what she knows. She is resistant to this, but her husband is moreso, and all must deal with Inspector Gesberg (Michel Galabru) and his subordinates "Batman" (Jean-Pierre Bacri) and "Robin" (Jean-Claude Lecas), who are all trying to keep order in the Métro despite the anarchistic attempts of Fred and his compatriots. "Batman" is obsessed with the apprehension of the Roller Skater, even when Gesberg assigns him to something more important.

    I am actually not completely sure what I thought of this film. I did find that Lambert works a lot better in his native tongue, not needing to wrestle words through his French accent--or, heaven forbid, more layered even on top of that--and able then to manage both the physical and the verbal. He's just as aloof, mischievous and passionate as his character should be in the role, dancing (in a metaphorical sense...mostly) and charming his way into and through everyone, sometimes honestly, sometimes not. Adjani complements this very well with the stilted, upturned nose and posture of her class, the stubbornness of her clinging to the spoiled life undermined by her desire for freedom. Galabru's wise and clever elder lawman position is an archetype that serves his role as well, giving us that person who may be on the side of our protagonist, or not--who may, in fact, be a good man with a distaste for said character.

    It is, I will note, beautifully filmed, with the cover showing the fantastic shot of Lambert with a hand-held flourescent bulb lighting the majority of the scene he's in, and with a score by Besson collaborator Eric Serra accounting for an interestingly bass and synth heavy, gated drums, very, very eighties score that culminates in a performance by the band that Fred puts together from the various people hiding in and around the Métro which sets the scene for the ending just right.

    Still, something was very detached and didn't quite gel in my interaction with the film, and that leaves me at a loss for the moment as to my feelings being positive or simply neutral.
  • December 8, 2006
    Very 1985
  • September 13, 2009
    Not so good as other Lyc Besson films...
  • March 25, 2009
    I love this crazy film
  • February 27, 2009
    there is no life like the subway
  • February 15, 2009
    Weird 80s-to-the-bone Luc Besson movie, always more interested in style than substance (or even plain plausability). The underworld settings and some characters are interesting, but the general silliness buries this down, although not completely.
  • January 7, 2009
    good good goody good good. ok. twas nice. nothin more

Critic Reviews


Comments


This board looks lonely. Be the first to talk about "Subway" !

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

More Like This


Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Barocco
    Barocco (0%)
  • The Terminal
    The Terminal (11%)
  • Léon (The Professional)
    Léon (The Professional) (43%)
  • Kontroll
    Kontroll (100%)

Facts


No facts approved yet. Be the first

Subway : Watch Free on TV


Subway Trivia


  • In Which movie is the famous shot of Marilyn Monroe standing above a grate and a subway train passing underneath and blowing up her dress?  Answer »
  • V for Vendetta was set to be released in theatres the fifth of November, 2005 to match with the tagline, "Remember, Remember, the 5th of November." However, the release date was pushed back to March 2006. For what reason was it pushed back.  Answer »
  • In Happy Gilmore Adam Sandler did an advert with which fast food company to raise money for his grandma to get her house back ??  Answer »
  • In What Movie did Sandra Bullock star as a love struck subway ticket agent  Answer »

Movie Quizzes


No quizzes for Subway. Want to create one?

Recent News


No recent headlines. Got one?

Most Popular Skin


No skins yet. Interested in creating one?