Oh, how I love the great Luc Besson. "Leon the
Professionale" is a flawless film, featuring one of the
creepiest performances ever from the brilliant Gary Oldman.
And, despite some negative reviews and a few flaws, "The
Fifth Element" was gorgeous to watch, if not just for
another standout performance from Oldman. Where was Gary
in "The Transporter"? I didn't see him, most
likely because he was not there to be seen. Maybe if he
had been, I would have enjoyed this film more and not been so
disappointed.
This film has been hyped up for a long time. I have been
watching trailer after trailer of this film on television
since early September and have wanted to see it since the very
first one. Jason Statham was hilarious in
"Snatch", likeable in "Ghosts
of Mars", and seemed to fit the shoes of a
ruthless mercenary pretty good; well, according to the
trailer. Alas, you can't judge a book by the cover, and
"The Transporter" turned out to be an action packed,
stunt filled dud.
Jason Statham stars as Frank Martin, a 'transporter' who use
to belong to the British Special Forces and is very expert and
precise at what he does, which is essentially deliver dirty
packages and not ask any questions about the cargo. But,
during one delivery, he discovers what he is delivering is
actually a woman (Qi Shu). The rest boils down to your
basic save the girl and do what's right routine, with a really
cool car chase and a few kick ass stunts. Remember how
"Leon the Professionale" gave us incredible action
sequences with intense periods of emotion and character
development? Remember the little quirks of how the
hitman always carried that plant around? Those were
fabulous. "The Transporter" lacks any of that
charisma. Of course, Luc Besson did not direct this
film--he only wrote it--though the trailers would have you
believe otherwise. I walked into the theatre under the
assumption that Besson had directed it. Ten minutes into
the film, I knew he had not.
What had I hoped to gain from "The Transporter"?
I don't know really. I just expected something more than
your typical action movie. You could have put Jackie
Chan in Statham's shoes and had the same movie, though Statham
is pretty entertaining on screen. I expected to see more
character development. At the film's beginning, we find
Statham's character intriguing and want to know more about
him. Half way through, we don't care because that
moderately interesting character has been transformed into
your typical action star, trying to save the girl, fix the bad
guys, and make some money in the process, all the while
staying true to his own moral code of standards. Boring.
All of you macho, popkorn movie loving freaks will probably
get a kick out of this movie for the sole reason that it has
some pretty cool explosions and chases. I need a little
more than that to give me a good time. "XXX"
was a much better secret agent/action flick, and I am usually
not a big Vin Diesel supporter. "The
Transporter" disappoints after such a promising trailer
and promotion and left me feeling very cheated. Very
cheated indeed.
