'Transporter' delivers pure popcorn fun
By Marshall Fine
The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News
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| THE TRANSPORTER (Rated PG-13 for violent action, profanity, sexuality) Three Stars (Good)
A professional driver, who hires himself out to criminals, finds himself under siege when he looks in one of the packages he is paid to deliver and discovers a kidnapped girl. Great action and lots of fun, even if it does run out of plausible plot with a half-hour left to go. Starring Jason Statham, Shu Qi. Directed by Corey Yuen. Twentieth Century-Fox, 95 minutes. |
You can find almost all of Besson's trademarks in "The Transporter," a film he wrote for director Corey Yuen. If "The Transporter" isn't a great movie, it certainly is a lot of fun, even if the story falls apart at the end.
Besson's world is filled with the kind of criminal professionals who live by a strong personal code, are so skilled at what they do that it virtually comes automatically to them — and inevitably are battling forces every bit as professional and ruthless as they are. This is a reality in which guns never run out of bullets and the hero is never at a loss — for words or action.
The title character in "The Transporter" is Frank Martin (Jason Statham), a highly skilled driver who hires himself out at top dollar. Initially, he's seen serving as a getaway driver for a bank robbery — but one who operates by his own rules.
Rule No. 1 is that you don't change the deal once it's been set. Rule No. 2: no names. Rule No. 3: never look in the package.
On his next run, delivering a large duffel bag, he has a flat tire and, when he goes to change it, notices that the bag in the trunk is moving. Frank knows better than to look inside, but he's only human.
He finds a girl named Lai (Shu Qi), bound and gagged. Taking pity, he gives her something to drink, then zips her back into the bag and delivers her.
But he's looked in the package and his temporary employer, a slimy guy named Wall Street (Matt Schulze), knows it. Which makes Frank expendable — or so Wall Street thinks.
But Frank also happens to be an ex-Special Forces agent, which, in Besson-World, means that he is virtually invincible. His home is filled with both weapons and escape hatches and he can easily take on 10 or so guys in hand-to-hand combat without breaking a sweat.
Besson's influences all seem to come from Hong Kong, which is where he found Yuen, an actor, director and fight choreographer for Jet Li. Together, they've created some of the most entertaining martial-arts sequences since Jackie Chan went Hollywood.
Still, Besson's script (co-written with Robert Mark Kamen) runs out of logic about a half-hour before the end. His villains are a little too omniscient, without being very smart. Story-wise, the film runs out of gas long before it's over.
Thankfully, it doesn't run out of action and British actor Jason Statham makes an intriguing new action hero. Balding and wiry, Statham gives a funny formality to this character who likes structure in his life. Even when he is forced to improvise, there's a terrific look of cool determination to Statham that says: I will do whatever needs to be done without batting an eyelash.
"The Transporter" is a pure popcorn movie, one that will goose your adrenaline while watching it and disappear from your head almost immediately afterward.
Rated PG-13 for violent action, profanity, sexuality.
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