Director: Cory Yuen
Starring: Jason Statham, Qi Shu, Matt Schulze, Francois Berleand, Ric Young
IMDB: 6.8
RT: 54
Box Office: $43.9 Million (Worldwide)
Summary-
Frank Martin is a "Transporter", he delivers peoples packages with no questions asked. He has a set of rules but when he breaks one of those rules many complications arise.
Review (SPOILERS!)-
After watching Homefront I decided to go on a little Jason Statham marathon. I realized I had never actually watched that many of his films outside of the Expendables. I decided to start with the film that put him on the map as a viable action star. He had co-starred in films such as Lock,Stock and Two Smoking Barrells, Snatch, The One and Ghosts of Mars but this was his first solo film. The script was penned by Robert Mack Kamen and Luc Besson who was known for films such as Leon: The Professional and The Fifth Element. This film was pretty well received which led to 2 sequels being made and another trilogy being planned.
The film opens with Frank Martin explaining what his job is and his specific rules that he always follows. While he is doing this we get a slick car chase as he helps drive some burglars out of a crime scene. The film definitely has that early 2000's, PG-13 action movie feel similar to The Fast and the Furious and The Bourne Identity. If you enjoyed those films than you probably will enjoy this. After completing his job, Frank Martin returns to his very nice looking French Villa on the sea. While he is on his next job he gets a flat tire and when he changes it he sees the package he is delivering start to move. He decides to break one of his rules by looking in the package and discovers a girl. He delivers the package to a guy nicknamed "Wall Street" played by Matt Schulze (The Fast and the Furious) who realizes that Frank looked in the package. He asks Frank to deliver another package for him which he agrees to but it ends up being a bomb and blows up his car. Frank goes back to the house and kicks some ass and steals a car that the same girl happens to be in.
The girl comes back to his home with him but they are soon attacked by the bad guys goons. The girl tells Frank that they are transporting several hundred Chinese people in storage containers. She convinces him to help free them but he soon discovers that she is the daughter of the guy smuggling the people. Frank ends up getting put in jail and the girl is taken by her father. The cop who has been following him and arrested him allows him to go as he knows there is something else going. It seemed like the cop was too easily convinced to let Frank go, especially since Frank had lied to him about everything in the movie up to that point. Frank sets off in a boat with some guns to go and take down the human trafficking deal. This is where you get all of the cool action scenes. There was one scene in particular that stuck with me as pretty inventive.
The second half of the clip where he covers himself in oil and fights them in a big pool of oil is pretty cool. I never realized how much I actually liked Jason Statham's fighting style. The main issue with this film for me though is that it is definitely an action movie made for kids/teens (its PG-13). Frank Martin always manages to survive ridiculous things without any consequences and there is very little blood in the film.
Final Thoughts-
This might be a good place to start for kids/teens who's parents don't want them to see the more violent/gory films. That being said its not really even the best movie for that as this is pure genre formula. I would recommend watching films like The Bourne Identity instead but this is still a solid film. Overall The Transporter is a pretty mild, early 2000's action film that features some nice fight scenes and is worth a watch for fans of the genre.
MY RATING-
3 out of 5
-Chris "Da Franchize" Hart
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