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| Frank Martin taking out the trash. |
I'm a Transporter virgin to be honest. I love Jason Statham and I think that he brings his all to every film of his. I quite enjoy his roles in The Expendables, Snatch, and Safe. However, I have not seen the franchise that kick started his American fame. After $18 and a trip to Best Buy, all three films found their way into my Blu Ray collection. Don't you love impulse purchases?
To be honest, I don't think anything in this franchise is more awesome than each of the posters. He's jumping in the air with two guns! So awesome! Even though these are truly awful posters, the action junkie in me loves them. I wonder if he even jumps while using two guns in each of the films. I wonder if Statham did a photo shoot for each of these posters too?
Anyways, let's dive into this action packed trilogy and see if these films are truly any good.
Director: Cory Yuen / Louis Leterrier
Starring: Jason Statham, Shu Qi, Francois Berleand, Matt Schulze, Ric Young
Country: France / United States
Rating: PG-13
Run Time: 92 minutes
I really thought this film was going to be pitch perfect. It's made from a dream team of action filmmakers: Cory Yuen (No Retreat, No Surrender 2), Pierre Morel (Taken), Louis Leterrier (Unleashed), Luc Besson (Leon: The Professional, The Fifth Element), and Jason Statham (The Mechanic, Safe). How could this not be incredible?! Unfortunately, The Transporter suffers from what the early Fast and Furious films suffer from: that lame early 2000's style and tone. There is unnecessary hip hop underscoring every scene, lousy CGI, and a need to inject lousy humor and sexuality into as many scenes as possible. Still, there is some stuff to love here, even if it means that you have to sit through some unbearable garbage.
Jason Statham plays Frank Martin, the one and only Transporter. He's an expert transporter with a car that can rotate license plates, martial arts skills that you don't want to mess with, and a soft spot for hot asian girls. While he normally transports anything with no questions asked, he accidentally discovers that his current package in his trunk is none other than a tied up woman, Lai (Shu Qui). Frank soon finds himself in hot water for taking a peek at his package and is nearly killed by a bomb, another package he was transporting. Frank and Lai find themselves hunted down by both the police and hit men as the two try to get to the bottom of everything.
Frank is the kind of role that Jason Statham was born to play. I love that he came back for this role two more times and turned this into a franchise. He gets to perform all kinds of physical feats in this film: car chases, fist fights, shootouts, you name it. This film has it all. Unfortunately, the film saves most of its action for the very end of the film. Because of this, the bulk of the first hour is filled with boring dialog between Frank, Lai, and an Inspector (Francois Berleand). There's all kinds of mind and word games between the three of them. And to be honest, it is all so exhausting to listen too. None of it was interesting really.
The lousy soundtrack is one of the film's worst offenses. Some of the emotional score and hip hop songs play during the worst moments. After a huge car chase, emotional music starts to play! Why is this scene scored like this? This is easily one of the worst scored action films I have ever seen.
For all of my disappointment, I did enjoy some of this film. Like I said, Jason Statham is awesome. The highlight of the film for me came when Jason Statham kicks through a door and proceeds to destroy a bunch of thugs playing poker inside of a huge mansion. It's both a great shootout and a fantastic melee fight. It's definitely one of the coolest action scenes to come out of 2002. Unfortunately, this film fails because all of its various elements never blend into something feasible or cohesive.
Rating: 6/10 - The Transporter suffers from a lousy soundtrack, awful chemistry, and a boring plot. A few good action scenes and Jason Statham's presence help save what is otherwise a forgetful film.
Director: Louis Leterrier
Starring: Jason Statham, Alessandro Gassman, Amber Veletta, Kate Nauta, Francois Berleand
Country: France/United States
Rating: PG-13
Run Time: 88 minutes
So much teal and orange. Did Michael Bay direct this movie? Anyways, Transporter 2 is a much better sequel to the disappointing first film. Even though Transporter 2 is just as trashy as silly as the first film, everything is amped up to ridiculous proportions. Luc Besson and friends realized that a Transporter film could be its best if they fully embraced the absurdities of the first film. Therefore, the film is able to have more fun with itself which in turn makes the viewing experience much more enjoyable. Nearly all of the same creative team from the first film returns as well.
This time around, Frank is now driving a young boy around for a rich family. Soon enough, that family becomes the target of some horrible people who want to use the rich father and his son as carriers of a deadly virus. I haven't seen an action film that used a deadly virus as its plot device in a long long time. Anyways, the best thing about this sequel is that it never takes itself too seriously. For example, Frank dispatches a bomb on the bottom of his car by hitting a ramp, flipping his car upside down, and scraping it off by hitting a crane! If that wasn't crazy enough, he even jumps onto a wave runner at one point, launches out of the water and onto the freeway, and than slides across the street towards a bus and jumps into the bus! Where were these crazy stunts in the first film?
Cory Yuen choreographs all of the action in this and does a darn good job. All of the fights are great, especially a garage fight near the end where Frank fights a load of thugs with pipes and axes. The music is also a big improvement, no more hip hop! Instead we get your typical film score and a hard rockin' but affective track that plays during the garage fight. All of the choreography and editing are perfect this go around.
Our villains this time are Gianna Chellini and Lola. Lola (Kate Nauta) is one of the most ridiculous right hand women I have ever seen in an action film. She is barely clothed at any one point in the film, even when in public! She carries around two silenced automatic guns too (see the poster). Lola's character provides the film with all of its unnecessary sexuality. If you thought the first film had some unnecessary sexuality, wait until you get a load of Lola. Keith David even pops up as a cop. But he disappears out of nowhere! Why was he even in this movie? The great Keith David is literally reduced to being a meaningless cameo.
The film also has some of the worst CGI I have ever seen. I don't know what was up with the green screen shots but they are horrible. They feel like they are from an animated film and not a live action film. At the end of the day though, these CGI shots only occur for a few seconds and aren't as massive a distraction as they could have been. What makes Transporter 2 work is that it fully embraces its absurdity and makes all of the action scenes as entertaining as possible. There is far more action in this film too. I could see myself rewatching this several times. It is just such a blast of an action film; even though it is pretty absurd and has a ridiculous plot.
Rating: 7/10 - Transporter 2 amps up the insanity and ridiculousness to new heights. In doing so, the film is far more enjoyable, action packed, and entertaining.
Director: Olivier Megaton
Starring: Jason Statham, Robert Knepper, Francois Berleand, Natalya Rudakova, etc.
Country: France / United States
Rating: PG-13
Run Time: 104 minutes
We have finally arrived at the end of the Transporter Trilogy. Unfortunately, Transporter 3 is all boredom and no excitement. The film is also the longest of the three and has the least amount of action and interesting story as well. With horrible editing and a forced romantic subplot, Transporter 3 is truly the worst of the three.
The film's plot kicks into gear when a man's car comes crashing into Frank Martin's home. Frank soon finds himself knocked out and awakes inside of a small room. He is introduced to Johnson (Robert Knepper). Frank had recommended the driver of the crashed car to Johnson to transport a package. However, the man failed and chose to seek help from Frank. In doing so, the responsibility of transporting the package is placed upon Frank. Frank must also travel with Valentina (Natalya Rudakova), a woman who is actually the package. Johnson straps an explosive wrist band to Frank and Valentina's wrists. If the two ever get more than 80 feet from Frank's car, their wrist bands will explode.
What sounds like a great plot set up never fully delivers. Frank encounters several obstacles during his road trip and each one feels more boring than the previous. He goes from fighting thugs in a car shop, to running from an enemy car, to having to strip tease to get his keys back from Valentina. This film feels a lot like the first film because Frank is forced to stay with both his car and a female for the entirety of the film. Valentina is so annoying though. I never once really cared for her and found her to be a big nuisance to both Frank and the plot. I could be watching some cool action scene but instead I have to watch Frank strip tease for her right after they just pushed a car off of a cliff? Whatever.
The few action scenes that are there in the film are horribly edited as well. For some reason, the filmmakers thought it was a good choice to speed up some of the footage. This makes all of the fight and chase scenes nearly impossible to visually understand. Some fight scenes don't even have sound effects. The score is all you get in some parts. This rapid style of cutting and editing is a travesty. It's a shame because all of the action scenes have a good set up but lousy execution.
I also enjoy Francois Berleand's cheesy Inspector character in all three films. He reminds me of Vincent Gardenia's "Frank Ocha" from the Death Wish films. He just keeps coming back in each film to remind you that someone else other than the lead character was in the previous films somewhere.
The film has three redeeming factors though. For starters, the film has a nice dark visual palette and color scheme consisting of many blues and blacks. I think the filmmakers finally nailed the look of a Transporter film after failing with the dull looking Transporter and the over the top teal and orange of Transporter 2. It's a shame that the visual style was nailed by the end of the trilogy though. And in the worst of the three Transporters too. Robert Knepper also does a fantastic job as the main villain. I have a biased love for Knepper from his stint on the flawed but memorable television show Prison Break. I truly think that Knepper brought a great presence to the film. He balances being both menacing and serious without ever becoming hammy or over the top a-la 1990's Gary Oldman.
And finally, I loved the set up of the film's final action scene. With Johnson, his goons, and Valentina all aboard a train, Frank has no choice but to drive his car on top of the train! It's an awesome sequence and it has to be seen to be believed. The film finally starts to embrace the absurdity that made Transporter 2 so memorable in this final action scene. Unfortunately, it is all too little too late to redeem an already boring action film.
Transporter 3 takes a turn for the serious while trying to balance both romantic tension and ridiculous action scenes. I think that Transporter 3 should have been more like Transporter 2. What helped make that film memorable was that it had non-stop action and played like a self-aware cartoon. Transporter 3 wants to be serious and gritty but have Frank flip his car on its side at the same time. Therefore, just like the first Transporter, Transporter 3 feels like a mixed bag that never amounts to anything worthwhile. It also suffers from being a real bore. Honestly, did anyone think watching Frank and Valentina talk about nonsense in a car for so many scenes would be interesting?
Rating: 5/10 - Transporter 3 is a dull contemporary action film that is truly only for die hard Jason Statham fans and genre fans.
Franchise:
The Transporter (dir. Cory Yuen / Louis Leterrier, 2002)
Transporter 2 (dir. Louis Leterrier, 2005)
Transporter 3 (dir. Olivier Megaton, 2008)
The Transporter Legacy (dir. Camille Delamarre, 2015)
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