IF YOU are a fan of car chases - and many people are - you may enjoy Transporter 3. Starring Jason Statham, who also featured in Transporters 1 and 2, it attempts to weave a plot around multiple car chases and the occasional shooting scene.
Stratham stars as Frank, the ubiquitous transporter of the title who works as a high speed courier, transporting ‘packages’ by automobile wherever the client demands. Reluctantly persuaded to transport Valentina (Natalya Rudakova ), a young, mysterious, Ukrainian woman across Europe, Frank is soon being pursued by another shadowy group of thugs whose purpose is unclear.
As an all too predictable romance blossoms between Frank and his toothsome captive companion, his loyalties swerve from his dubious employers to Valentina. Meanwhile, a gossamer thin environmental plot emerges in the footsteps of Quantum Of Solace, and Frank discovers he is in the midst of an international corruption scheme involving barrels of toxic waste.
Co-written by the imaginative French director Luc Besson, Transporter 3 occasionally shows glimpses of an entertaining Eurothriller. Unfortunately, any suspense generated by the plotline is inevitably superseded by the machismo of guys driving cars at high speeds and shooting at each other.
In any case, Besson in the director’s chair may not have made a discernible difference. Jason Statham, clearly relishing his reprised role as Frank the transporter, swaggers around shirtless when he’s not behind the wheel. First seen in tough guy mode in Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and then in Snatch, Statham has clearly found his niche.
At times Transporter 3 appears to make a serious attempt to integrate a storyline. Unfortunately the dialogue which results is too preposterous to retain audience interest in anything but more car chases. Both Frank and kidnap victim Valentina are saddled with ridiculous, clichéd, lines as well as an outdated soundtrack.
Transporter 3 is often a deeply silly film; however, this did not stop the audience cheering regularly at the screening I was at. I also saw the trailer for the forthcoming Fast and the Furious 4, which effectively erased any doubts that there is an audience for films featuring fast car chases.
