Our JP reviews the fourth film in the “Transporter” franchise. This one has a new cast, with Ed Skrein replacing Jason Statham as the title role of Frank Martin.
THE TRANSPORTER REFUELED
EuropaCorp
Release Date: September 4, 2015
Rating: PG- 13
Run Time: 1 hr., 41 minutes
Directed by Camille Delamarre
Produced by Luc Besson, Mark Gao
Written by Luc Besson, Bill Collage, Adam Cooper
Based on Characters by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
Studio Synopsis:
Frank Martin (Ed Skrein) is living a less perilous lifestyle, or so he thinks, transporting classified packages for questionable people. Things take a turn for the worse when a cunning femme fatale and her three seductive sidekicks orchestrate the bank heist of the century. The former special-operations mercenary must now use his covert expertise and superior driving skills to outrun a sinister Russian kingpin, while playing a dangerous game with a team of gorgeous women out for revenge.
J.P.’s Take:
For those who are diehard fans of the “Transporter” series, don’t expect anything truly unique to stand out from this retread, entitled “The Transporter Refueled.” What we have here is your garden-variety action oriented summer blockbuster. You can expect a basic story package filled with blasé baddies, lukewarm hand-to-hand combat and humor drained of its zing. On the plus side, the femme fatales have a sense of purpose this time around. As victims of circumstance, these women plot a deadly scheme against those whom have wronged them. Moreover, they do it with style and sex appeal.
Typical troupes of the genre that is becoming more prominent these days. Fresh face Ed Skrein steps into the role of ex-special forces soldier Frank Martin for “Refueled.” He’s young, fit and can hold his own in a scuffle or two. However, it’s Jason Statham who refined the role of Frank Martin in the first round of “Transporter” films. With his suave personality, dry British wit and keen martial skills, he’s not only a lethal weapon but the quintessential gentleman mercenary.
Luc Besson’s knack for presenting sharply inventive death throes and stunts is also a characteristic of his “Transporter” trilogy. They are much beloved for witty script, character deveolpment and cleverly developed death-defying escapes. Much of that is missing in this revamped flick.
There are three scenes that stand out from the rest:
- One scene involves Martin with the lady thieves in tow making their escape from the police, after Anna (Loan Chabanol), Gina (Gabriella Wright) and Qiao (Wenxia Yu) rob a French national bank. Frank devises a move to throw the cops off his tale, as he spins out into a donut, knocking off the caps of several fire hydrants. Water spews everywhere and cop cars and motorcycles go sliding all over the road.
- Another scene involves Martin and the three female thieves again — this time they’ve robbed a couple of gangsters at a night club. When the foursome gets to the car, the thugs that pursued them surround them. Frank sets the car in motion and steps out of it with them inside. They’re panicking while Frank is kicking butt as the car is rolling behind him. When he finishes his scuffles, he hops back in the car and jets off bursting through the gate. It’s a scene that brings back the kind of humor found in “Transporters” 1 through 3.
- The last crazy scene comes toward the end of the movie, as Frank is chasing down a bad guy on a jet sky. As Frank runs ashore with the jet sky, he jumps off of it with feet into the side window of the bad guys’ getaway car. He knocks him clear from the vehicle as he was driving away.
Alas, I wish I could say good things about many of the fights. They leave much to the imagination and lacked enthusiasm.
As I’ve mentioned before, the characters are simply run of the mill. The cast consist of the main villains: Leo Imasova (Lenn Kudrjawizki), Yuri (Yuri Kolokolnikov) and Arkady Karasov (Radivoje Bukvic). In theory, the all looked like despicable Euro-trash, yet, they were about as threatening as angry wolf cubs. Joining them are Noemie Lenoir as Maissa, Tatiana Pajkovic as Maria, Samir Guesmi as Inspector Bectaoui and Anatole Taubman as Stanislas Turgin. Ray Stevenson gaves the most memorable performance of all as Frank Martin Sr., a smooth operator and total ladies man.
The “Transporter” trilogy had a certain “je ne sais quoi” about them. Yet I’m not sure whom “Transporter Refueled” appeals to. All I can say is it has a ways to go in character refinement and creative exploits.