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Directed By
Olivier Megaton
Written By:
Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
Cast:
Jason Statham, Francois Berleand, Robert Knepper, Jeroen Krabbe, Eriq Ebouaney, David Kammenos, Silvio Simac, Justin Rodgers Hall, Alex Kobold, David Atrakchi, Yann Sundberg, Timo Dierkes, Mike Powers, Gregory Loffredo, Philippe Maymat, Natalya Rudakova, Katia Tchenko, Farid Elouardi
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Transporter 3 (2008)
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Movie Review by Jarrod
December 1st, 2008
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'Transporter 3' is pure dumb fun spoiled by a distractingly stupid story and a horrendous romantic subplot. Jason Statham reprises his role of Frank Martin for the third time; this has never been an especially good franchise, has always felt like a James Bond/Jason Bourne knock-off, but it does feature some occasionally amazing stunts, audaciously constructed, and reveling in their own improbability, sort of like Wanted from earlier in the year.
Martin is (or was) a professional driver, who, as the title suggests, "transported" people or things from one location to the next. His latest assignment is forced upon him by the villainous Johnson (Robert Knepper), and involves a young woman named Valentina (Natalya Rudakova), daughter of Ukrainian government official Leonid Vasilev (Jeroen Krabbe). Frank and Valentina are strapped with collars that are rigged to explode if they get more than 75 feet from Frank's car; this is merely a contrivance, since Frank can take his car just about anywhere, makes it do all sorts of fancy tricks. The frenetic pacing is reminiscent of Crank, but that flick was more entertaining than this one.
I have to say that Rudakova is one of the worst actresses in recent memory; English is obviously not her native language, and her dialogue is flat, artificial, and over-rehearsed, I can imagine co-writer Luc Besson and director Olivier Megaton coaching her in pronunciation, encouraging her to enunciate every syllable of each unfamiliar word, rather than simply letting her speak Russian, with which she would undoubtedly have been more comfortable. I was reminded of how Henry Higgins refines the speech patterns of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, through arduous, incessant, and empty repetition. Statham cannot be faulted for playing a type of character he might as well have trademarked by now, at least until he stars in more stuff like The Bank Job.
Much of the fight choreography was done by the acclaimed Cory Yuen, but was butchered by lousy editing, and some sequences involve a seemingly invincible Frank taking down a dozen or more of Johnson's flunkies, who bafflingly come at him one at a time. While one guy is attacking, the others stand on the sidelines, waiting for their chance to strike. Why not just rush him as a group? Statham disrobes quite a bit, showing off his muscled physique, to be approaching 40, he looks terrific. The movie often defies the laws of physics, and does so with joyous abandon. The climax, set on a train, is ruined by its sheer unoriginality.
Am I being too harsh? Perhaps so, but Quantum of Solace did this same type of thing much better, and Wanted even better than that. Rudakova is an unconventional, somewhat exotic beauty, not quite on par with the typical Bond girl, but distinctive and cute, with her freckles and red hair. Maybe cute is the more appropriate adjective. This should be the end of Frank Martin's exploits, but I guess that will depend on this film's box office success.
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