Ridiculous action scenes and a lackcluster plot make this a dull attempt to breath new life into this series
The Transporter series has had an interesting life. There have been three films that all starred Jason Statham with a similar plot yet the action was stellar and it was fun to root for this man who starts off as a somewhat bad but always has to evolve into someone good. There was also a short lived TV series that starred Chris Vance that had two seasons but truthfully not a ton of people watched it. This new movie is an attempt to breath new life into this series, and here is how this writer thinks that worked out.
Frank Martin (Ed Skrein) gets a call from a woman named Anna (Loan Chabanol) one day asking for a transporter. Frank has three rules that must never be broken so that he can keep doing his job happily. But pretty much right away he gets more than he bargained for as the job gets more complex and the stakes get higher. This time he is dragged into a dangerous situation that involves someone he knew many years ago. Frank wants to get out of the job but knows that he is already too deep to do that. Why do these girls need to drag him along to help with their goals? What exactly are they trying to do? And are they all going to make it out alive?
The film sadly is not that good. The action sequences come off as ridiculous most of the time and are missing the spark that Jason Statham always brought flawlessly. The plot is too familiar and even though a few new things are thrown in to try to make it interesting this only drags the plot down instead. The soundtrack is okay but again will not knock your socks off at all.
But the strangest thing about this film is that Frank this time around is not the main character. For most of the movie he is taken for a ride and has little control over what happens to him or those he loves. In the past films this never happened. Frank would always end up in a dangerous situation but he never gave the controls to someone else. This is what makes it a bad movie and one that is sure to disappoint the fans.
The film gets 4/10. It is not a horrendous piece of film but it is missing too many elements to make it great. The cast work together okay but again there is something missing here that drags down the direction the film is going. There are a few cool action scenes and the finale was impressive, but the rest of the film not so much. It had the potential to be amazing but for many reasons this just didn’t happen.
If you enjoy action films you may want to check this film out. If you liked the past Transporter films you may enjoy this one. But if you are looking for anything original or exciting this is not the film for you. Best to wait until this film comes out to rent to see it. It is a shame this film was so bad when it had the possibility to be wonderful. This film is not worth the price of a ticket and is best to let disappear into obscurity.
View the trailer here: