Did we really need a new Transporter flick? Well, no, not really. Three Jason Statham-fueled installments and 24 episodes of a TV show with a new guy playing driver-for-hire Frank Martin seemed like enough. Franchise writer/producer Luc Besson apparently disagreed; hence, Transporter Refueled, a new entry with indifferent plotting but some great action.
Statham’s moved on to greener action-flick pastures, so in his place we get new, younger Brit Ed Skrein as former Special Ops man Martin, who transports people and things for a price. Here he gets involved with a quartet of prostitutes (led by Loan Chabanol) out to take down a generically nasty human trafficker (Radivoje Bukvic). To secure Martin’s help, they kidnap his father (Ray Stevenson).
A la the first three flicks, the film features flashy cars (and boats), hot women in short skirts (and blonde wigs) and sunny European locales, all meant to distract us from the fact that most of what happens here is a wafer-thin excuse for car chases and hand-to-hand combat. And it works, I suppose, as I really can’t recall why the prostitutes were robbing banks and using iPads.
Former rapper Skrein (who appeared briefly on Game of Thrones) seems to have been cast strictly for his cheekbones, he’s so pretty—too pretty, in fact. His tall, thin frame doesn’t look like it could really take the pounding it receives here, nor does he look nearly badass enough to get away with the kind of cleverly choreographed beat downs his character administers to various goons.
While learning that another human being did indeed beget Martin, Jr. demystifies the character a little too much, it nonetheless allows in Stevenson (2011’s The Three Musketeers), who steals the show in his wonderfully colorful turn as just-retired Martin, Sr. No matter how hairy things get for the not-used-to-being-shot-at character, he takes them in very entertaining stride.
And director Camille Delamarre, a veteran EuropaCorp editor who also helmed Brick Mansions, crafts some nicely energetic action, including a first-act car chase in which French cop cars smash into each other seemingly nonstop. The best sequence sees Skrein racing to help Stevenson and Chabanol escape a passenger jet as it tears down a runway. It helps the movie briefly take flight. – [DVD]
Action/Crime/Thriller
Rated R
DVD Release Date: 12/8/15
