Reviewed by: Phil Owen
CONTRIBUTOR
Moral Rating: | Average |
Moviemaking Quality: |
|
Primary Audience: | Teens Adults |
Genre: | Action Crime Thriller |
Length: | 1 hr. 32 min. |
Year of Release: | 2002 |
USA Release: |
courage, bravery, self-sacrifice
use of martial arts
smuggling illegal immigrants into a nation
How do moviemakers get viewers to root for a criminal hero?
Featuring | Jason Statham, François Berléand, Shu Qi, See all » |
Director |
Corey Yuen Louis Leterrier |
Producer | Europa Corp., TF1 Films Production, Current Entertainment, Canal+, Luc Besson, Steve Chasman, David Lai, Alfred Lot, Mehdi Sayah |
Distributor |
20th Century Studios, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios, a division of The Walt Disney Company |
Sequels: “The Transporter 2” (2005), “Transporter 3” (2008)
Let me start off by saying that “The Transporter” (starring Jason Statham and Shu Oi) is a solid action movie. The fight choreography and acting is nothing short of excellent! That being said, the story is a little lacking, but since the film is all action anyway, it doesn’t really matter.
Ex-Special Forces operator Frank Martin (Statham) lives what seems to be a quiet life along the French Mediterranean, hiring himself out as a mercenary “transporter” who moves goods—human or otherwise—from one place to another. No questions asked. Frank’s newest transport seems no different from the countless ones he’s done in the past. He has been hired by an American known only as “Wall Street” (see Rule Two: No Names) to make a delivery, but when Frank stops along route, he notices his “package” is moving. Violating his own personal rules, Frank looks inside the bag, finding its contents to be a beautiful, gagged woman. From there, he delivers the bag, with the woman inside, and we begin our endless stream of action sequences that get us to the film’s conclusion.
There is not much objectionable material in this film: a little language (about 10 expletives) with the “sensuality” noted in the MPA rating nothing more than a long kiss in a scene that ends quickly.
Overall, “The Transporter” is a fun action flick that definitely has the best martial arts scenes performed by a non-Asian actor that I have ever seen (it blows “Walker, Texas Ranger” out of the water). This film is worth a shot simply because of the sweet action and the little objectionable material.
See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.
My Ratings: [Average / 3½]