Your Entertainment Ticket.net

TRANSPORTER 3

Starring: Jason Statham, Natalya Rudakova, Francois Berleand, Jeroen Krabbe and Robert Knepper

Directed by: Olivier Megaton

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence, some sexual content and drug material

By John Delia

The Transporter series has been good up till now, but killing this sequel is the acting of Statham’s costar Rudakova and some major silliness. Much like the previous flicks, there are plenty of explosive scenes to keep your attention. If you like films that provide an adrenaline rush with stylized fights and absurd car chases, then Transporter 3 should kick you into high gear.
Frank Martin (Statham) has been pressured into transporting Valentina (Rudakova), the kidnapped daughter of Leonid Vasilev (Krabbe), the head of the Environmental Protection Agency for the Ukraine, from Marseilles through Stuttgart and Budapest until he ends up in Odessa on the Black Sea. Along the way, with the help of Inspector Tarconi (Berleand), Frank has to contend with the people who strong armed him to take the job, agents sent by Vasilev to intercept him, and the general non-cooperation of his passenger. Despite Valentina’s cynical disposition and his resistance to get involved, Frank and Valentina fall for each other, while escaping from one life-threatening situation after another.
The more they make films like Transporter 3, Crank, Hitman, Shoot Em Up, and Fast and Furious, the bar gets raised even higher to out do one another. Tranporter 3 however, misses the high jump by a mile. There are several scenes that make the film absurd including a fight between Statham and several bad guys where he uses almost every piece of clothing on his body as a weapon (I guess cloth is a weapon), bracelets that do not allow Frank and Valentina to go 75 feet form the car in which they are riding (except when you are riding a bicycle) and tilting his car so it can slide between two sixteen wheelers (there must have been a secret mechanism to get it to tilt).
Direction by Megaton was not his best effort. Either he was strapped with Rudakova or there must have been a breakdown between the two as her performance was slovenly at best. The scenes were she doesn’t talk are her most bearable, while those where she recites her lines are emotionless. Her wardrobe looked like it came courtesy of K-Mart and her make-up person should have covered up the thousands of freckles that distract from her beauty.
On the upside, Statham keeps his kick-butt attitude going in this installment and makes the weak script at least tolerable. The car landing on the train scene was really wacky and the wild bike chase radical.
The film contains some sequences of intense action and violence, some sexual content and drug material so immature children are not recommended as tagalongs.

FINAL ANALYSIS: Transporter 3 looses its energy with absurd scenes and mundane acting. (2 of 5 stars)