The Transporter film review

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THE TRANSPORTER

Five years ago, nobody in Hollywood had heard of Jason Statham. The young Londoner was a member of the British national diving team and had just embarked on a fledgling modelling career. Then a lead role in Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels propelled him to stardom and Statham's feet haven't touched the ground since.

The Transporter marks his first shot at leading man duties, reinventing the handsome Brit as a 21st century Jean-Claude Van Damme. Incredibly, the film was written especially for Statham by veteran film-maker Luc Besson and regular collaborator Robert Mark Kamen. Perhaps they saw a star quality in the actor which has yet to sparkle on the big screen.

Ex-Special Forces operative Frank Martin (Statham) has abandoned his old life of violence and subterfuge to enjoy life on the French Riviera. He finances his life of luxury - a beautiful apartment, fast cars - by working as a transporter.

For a very generous fee, Frank will move any goods, human or otherwise, no questions asked, avoiding the inevitable run-ins with the local gendarme.

During one routine job, Frank foolishly opens the goods and is shocked to finds a terrified woman, Lai (Qi Shu), bound and gagged and clearly in distress. Against his better judgement, Frank allows Lai out of the bag, and he soon comes under fire from the recipient of the package, underworld thug Wall Street (Matt Schulze) and his gun-toting goons.

Forced on the run for their lives, Frank and Lai take on the bad guys, and consequently expose an illegal people smuggling ring operating between mainland Europe and Asia.

Director Corey Yuen shoots the martial arts stunts with panache and energy, showing off his leading man's athletic prowess to the full. However, some of the skirmishes are laughably improbable, such as a climactic fist-fight which sees Frank single-handedly disabling a bus full of heavily armed henchmen without sustaining more than a bruise.

For all of its bravura fight sequences, The Transporter lacks pace and the charaterisation and plot are woefully flimsy. More importantly Statham fails to command attention. A cardboard cut-out would arguably be just as appealing.

Utterly forgettable and destined to grace a video shelf near you very soon.