TOP: Jason Statham as Frank Martin contimplates a quiet life as a dodgy courier. BELOW: Frank Martin (Statham) breaks one of his own rules when he looks inside a package he was paid to deliver and discovers a beautiful young woman, bound, gagged and scared.

Familiar and brilliant
The Transporter


Starring Jason Statham, Shu Qi, Francois Berleand and Matt Schulze. Rated M.

Reviewer :: The Big Irish Git

I’M NOT real quick at the recognition game and I’m dead hopeless at trivia – even movie trivia. This may seem a little odd for a movie reviewer, you might think.

But not really if you think about it.

I view most new films with fresh eyes – few preconceptions. Sure, I will choose to view a movie because it’s the latest Arnie flick, or the sequel to x, y or z and so on.

But generally speaking, each movie, for me, is a new one that lives or dies on its own merits.

The Transporter was unique in that I knew absolutely nothing about it in advance, save for a quick glimpse of the promotional picture in the cinema listings in the local paper.

The image is of a guy in a suit, a large automatic pistol in each hand, blazing. That’ll do me, I quickly decide.

It was only in the course of the film I came to realise, “Hey, don’t I know that guy from something else?”.

Eventually, about an hour in, I twig. “He was in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” (I told you I was quick – not).

Jason Statham is Frank Martin, former special forces, retired and keeping a relatively low profile in a sleepy non-tourist, south-of-France coastal retreat.

Armed with professional training, immaculate attention to detail and steadfast adherence to his own set of rules, he makes his living as a transporter of ... well of anything at all really.

Rule number one: Never change the deal.
Rule number two: No names.
Rule number three: Never look in the package.

Things start to become unhinged when, sort of by accident, Frank breaks his own rule number three.

Inside the black package, “150cm by 50cm by 50kg, no more” he finds a beautiful young woman, bound and gagged and obviously scared.

As the film progresses – and after I’ve twigged to the Lock Stock link – I begin to feel there’s a certain familiarity to the “feel” of the whole movie.

Perhaps it’s the south-of-France backdrop or a certain je ne c’est pas about the action sequences. Or maybe it’s the unknown yet riveting, heavily accented, laconic, shabby yet lovable character played by the unknown (to me) Francois

Berleand as detective Tarconi.

But there is definitely something about this film that is familiar and brilliant.

It’s not the story itself, because that’s obviously secondary to the action. And yet, it’s not just the action either, because most of that is over the top (in a good way).

Then it hit me (when I saw his name on the credits) Luc Besson – the man who gave us The Professional and La Femme Nikita.

Go see this because ...

The Big Irish Git rates this movie 4 shamrocks

You can view more than 100 other movie reviews by The Big Irish Git on his personal web site www.bigirishgit.com

.