A martial arts action film that manages to
tell an engaging story is a rare gem that is to be cherished
and coveted. Between those infrequent treasures is the rest
of the pack. The hamburgers between the steak dinners, if you
will.
The Transporter does not fall into the treasure
category, but like a good hamburger, it is satisfying.
To be sure, the plot of The Transporter is
thoroughly ridiculous and, in places, blatantly ripped off from
previous, better films. But films such as these exist mainly
as vehicles to showcase the fight scenes. We have all seen whirling
fists and feet, so the trick is to come up with something fresh,
something interesting. The Transporter does exactly this.
Take, for instance, a scene taking place in
a bus station. Our hero, Frank Martin (Jason Statham), is under
attack by a group of assailants. When a drum of oil spills,
he is inspired. Quickly dumping over more oil drums, Martin
covers himself, making it impossible for his attackers to grab
him. Then, using pedals broken off of a bicycle as make-shift
cleats, Martin takes the advantage by being the only one able
to stand on the slippery floor.
I suppose I should make some mention of the
plot, such as it is. Frank Martin is an ex-military man who
now hires himself out as a transporter. For the right price,
he will take just about anything anywhere, no questions asked.
He is successful because he follows a few simple rules: he never
changes a deal, he never looks in the package and he never exchanges
any names.
Martin makes the mistake of breaking one of
his rules when he discovers that one of his packages is moving.
Against his better judgement, Martin opens the package and discovers
a young girl, Lai (Qi Shu). She is bound and gagged and stuffed
into a duffle bag.
Martin delivers the package, but his employers
suspect that he knows what's in the bag and set out to kill
him. The assassination fails, but succeeds in destroying Martin's
car. He returns to their house, beats up some lackies and then
steals one of their cars so he can drive home. This initiates
a war between Martin and Wall Street (Matt Schulze), the chief
bad guy.
The Transporter was penned by Luc Besson,
who has given us Leon (The Professional), one of the great action
films in recent years. There are certainly elements from Besson's
earlier efforts present here, but where a film like Leon focused
as much on story and character development as on gunplay, The
Transporter is all about the action.
In order to make sure that the action was
handled correctly, world renowned action choreographer Corey
Yuen was brough on board to direct. Yuen has worked with the
likes of Jackie Chan and Jet Li and has proven himself as a
very inventive choreographer. Here, he makes excellent use of
Jason Statham's athletics and martial arts skills.
There are certainly problems with the film.
Character development is, at times, uneven and the motivations
of the bad guys are never fully explained or justified. There
are plot holes and blatant mistakes. However, this isn't the
sort of film to watch for the plot. This is action escapism
and on that level, it succeeds as great fun.
If there is one major complaint to be made,
it's that toning the film down for a PG-13 rating dulls some
of the edge. We're talking death, mayhem, sex and fist fights
here -- the producers should have known better than to play
it safe.
