MOVIE REVIEW: ‘The Transporter’ had potential, but doesn’t deliver — Grade C-
I must admit, this movie started really well. Jason Statham, who plays Frank Martin, a transporter, has been hired to drive the getaway vehicle for some bank robbers. When they get in the car, he refuses to move because there is one more of them than they’d agreed on, meaning more weight in the car. They have changed the rules, and Statham refuses to leave until they shoot one of the robbers and dump him out of the car.
This was a very different twist for a movie – an antihero with class., but it disintegrated into meaningless drivel from there. Maybe it’s because I expected more from the writer of “La Femme Nikita.” Or maybe it’s because I was hoping for an entertaining escapist movie that would not strangle its audience with the traditional action film clichés that make every “blow-em-up” film the same.
The story centers around Martin, whose orderly, ruled life is thrown into disarray after he breaks one of his own rules – he opens a package. The package turns out to be Lai (Shu Qi) who is being delivered to a man who eventually tries to kill Martin. Of course, this ticks him off. Lai escapes and enlists his help to rescue 400 people in a container who are being delivered into slavery. Lots of fights and daring action stunts ensue, which are the strings that attempt to hold the film together.
Statham had a lot of potential that was wasted in this film. He was reduced to monosyllabic lines reminiscent of some of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s best work. He holds his own in the fight scenes, but when your director is a fight choreographer, even Gandhi could look like a pro fighter.
Most of these fights were overstaged. It was obvious when a “baddie” would hold his arm in a certain place so it could be grabbed and twisted. These slow-motion moves detracted from the fast-paced enjoyment that would have added to the film’s reality. Some of these fights even interfered with the story. Please explain to me how an old man with a gun can subdue a guy who can beat up three people with only his sweater? Get real.
The screenplay was shoddy at best, and the thing that bugged me the most about it is you never are told why Lai was kidnapped by her father’s business partner in the first place. One minute she’s a prisoner and the next she’s seducing Martin into helping her.
Also, a lot of the dialogue stank. It was ridiculously loony. After getting tired of Martin complaining about his disrupted life, Lai quipped “You always complain. Except last night when we make love, you didn’t complain.”
“The Transporter” was a film with potential, but it doesn’t deliver. It was waylaid on its way to success by bad screenplay, overchoreographed fights and the under-use of its actor. Save your $6 and see it in the cheap theater.
Jared Sterzer is a senior studying business information systems. Comments can be sent to jwsterz@cc.usu.edu.
Grade: C-