Review: The Transporter 2

Posted by: Dean Kish  •  September 2, 2005 @ 11:59am

Filed under: Reviews

There was once a little movie, who jumped off the video store shelves and screamed with all its merry might, "Watch me, damn you!"

You see, in the magical, rather blinded alternate dimension known as Hollywood, no one believed in this little movie. He was spit on by critics, shunned by the Hollywood system, and of course was a success in the world market. You know, one of those films.

No one believed there was much more to that little movie until someone at a video store probably in some offbeat place known as Podunk, Kansas said, "Golly, gee. This movie ain't bad. Honey, pass me the dip!"

Before you know it, that little movie was flyin' off video shelves and all sorts of people got to know Jason Statham and his alter-ego Frank Martin, "The Transporter".

Lo and behold, three years later we have a sequel that is here to close off the 2005 summer movie season with a bang.

The Transporter 2 finds good old Frank Martin doing an escort job for a friend. His job is to shuttle around the son of an ultra-rich Florida politician (Matthew Modine) and his neglected wife (Amber Valletta). Things get ultra-complicated when Frank's package is kidnapped and there seems to be more at play here than the life of one child. Now it's up to Frank to save the boy and uncover the mystery surrounding the kidnapping.

There are so many amazing things you can say about Jason Statham. The man does all his own fight scenes, he moves like the wind, and he looks good in a tuxedo. This man was born to be an action star. Oh, did I also mention the guy can act?

This sequel has its plot-holes, some rather ridiculous but amazing stunts, a thick-accented and very clichéd villain, half-naked women, and an insane airplane sequence, but with Statham at the wheel this flick delivers the goods even if we have seen them all before. All these things are all part of its charm.

I did notice a couple editing problems that made me roll my eyes and I did find the female villain (Katie Nauta) tiresome after the first action sequence. Sure she has charisma, has a hot bod, packs a mean gun, and has a psychotic look, but I just felt she was more annoying than ruthless. The film deserved a better henchperson.

I love how this franchise is going and as long as they keep making them, who cares who the next Bond is? Statham should be Bond and if not, Frank Martin sequels are fine by me. (3.5 out of 5) So Says the Soothsayer.