Jason Statham is the Transporter 2002 Film
Frank Martin will Deliver Anything Anywhere if the Price is Right
Oct 14, 2009
The Transporter is a 2002 French action film directed Louis Leterrier and Corey Yuen. It is set in France and was a film that spawned two sequels. The Transporter was also one of the first non-British made films in which Jason Statham got to play a lead role.
The Transporter’s Rules
Frank Martin is a very skilled driver that will take on any job, from assisting bank robbers to escape a robbery to driving an unknown package across the country. He has a set of rules that he came up with and sticks to. These ensure that the risk to himself and those he works for are minimised.
A couple of days after helping a group of bank robbers to escape Frank is visited by Inspector Tarconi (François Berléand). Their conversation is friendly although it becomes obvious that the Inspector suspects that Frank was the driver for the robbers.
Later Frank is hired to take a package to an American gangster named ‘Wall Street’ (Matt Schulze). During the journey Frank realises that the package is actually a young woman named Lai Kwai (Shu Qi), after Wall Street tries to kill him, Lai draws Frank into a plot involving the illegal slave trade.
Fast Paced Action Film
Transporter is not a film that worries about the details of a plot, instead it throws in a little romance, along with dazzling car chases that are just meant to entertain. Statham makes a good action star and performs the fight scenes himself. The Transporter benefits from the fact that it doesn’t take itself seriously. It also makes a change to see a clever police inspector who recognises that unleashing Frank to sort the situation out is better than trying to stop him.
The chemistry between Statham and Kwai doesn’t exactly set the screen ablaze, and if anything she seems to be using her body as a way of manipulating him. Frank seems to be a moral man and if she had simply told him why she needed his help then he might have helped her anyway. The plot involving her kidnapping is just a small part of a much wider operation in which illegal immigrants are sold as slave labour.
Unfortunately The Transporter has one moment in which the audience might struggle with the film’s realism. During an attack on his house Frank manages to divert a missile with a tray, surely if anyone attempted to do that the missile would blow up. Still this is a rare lapse in the plausibility of the film.
For the most part The Transporter is a fun action film that keeps its tongue-in-cheek. The best films know when to take themselves seriously and when not to. Statham makes a good leading man and Frank Martin is an obvious badass that is a joy to watch during the bone crunching fight scenes.
Essentially what plot the film has is just an excuse for numerous car chases and fight sequences. François Berléand provides the film’s comic relief and his scenes with Statham are a highlight. Matt Schulze seems to be having a good time playing another bad guy having previously played Bloodpack member Chupa in Blade 2 earlier in 2002.
8/10
All in all The Transporter is a decent action film that is best enjoyed with a large bag of popcorn after the audience check’s their brain at the door.
 |
