Silver Screen: ‘The Transporter’

If you’re looking for a film with amazing fight scenes, tons of action, a ruthless hero and a weak plot, then “The Transporter” is a great pick. Unfortunately, the script is so weak that not even the action scenes could save the film from being a flop. Within the first few minutes of the movie, reality goes out the window during an exhilarating car chase that shows just how good Jean Franc (Jason Statham) is, but also gives the audience an idea of how the rest of this entertaining, yet unrealistic, movie will go. Franc, an ex-military, cold-hearted loner, is a professional “transporter” of goods and people. Because of his unbending rules and meticulous care and timing, he usually has little trouble with his morals or with the law. But, as luck would have it, a girl comes along to mess up his perfect regiment. The girl, Lai (Shu Qi), was one of his packages: a kidnapping victim. As Franc mutters to himself after taking out a couple of cops, “I never should have opened the package”-by breaking his own rules, Franc leads his way into trouble. Through her very broken English, Lai manages to woo our heartless hero into saving and helping her. The script, co-written by Luc Besson (“The Professional,” “La Femme Nikita”), just goes downhill from there. For every perfectly choreographed fight scene, there was a horrendously clichÈd line of dialogue. Statham was perfect for his role, and director Corey Yuen certainly played up Statham’s sex appeal by having him go shirtless for a good part of the movie. However, not even two attractive stars could save “The Transporter.” Halfway through the film, it appeared that the writers were unsure whether to be serious about the script or to use it as only a joke to back up the action scenes. With the amount of laughter coming from the audience during the serious scenes, one would hope that the writers were aiming at jest. It seems as if most new action movies try to outdo one another with stunts and unbelievable fights