The Transporter Refueled brings back Frank Martin (Ed Skrein, stepping in for Jason Statham), the professional courier who specializes in discreetly delivering packages with no questions asked. In this installment of the popular franchise, he gets caught up in the schemes of a gang of prostitutes looking to get revenge on the gangsters that ruined their lives. They force Frank to help them out by kidnapping his father, but as they work together, Frank finds himself drawn to the righteousness of their cause.
The movie landscape has really changed since 2002, back when the first Transporter movie was released. We are now in the age of sequels and reboots, with the mainstream studios less willing to take risks on new properties. And so we are met with this retread of a franchise that isn't really worth revisiting. Though the film offers up a couple of fun action sequences, it mostly plays as a random assortment of macho nonsense, all tied together with a ludicrous plot that involves some of the worst criminal plans in the history of cinema.
What made the first Transporter movie so appealing is how simple it was. We barely know anything about the titular hero. We are simply introduced to his rules, and the movie builds its plot off of the breaking of those rules, revealing that the driver has more of a conscience than his work might suggest. This film expands of Frank's origins, and there's very little gained from doing any of that. The film goes feigns some connection between Frank and the main villain, but doesn't really make anything substantial out of it.
It instead focuses on the absurd machinations of the prostitutes' schemes, a plan of revenge that involves way too many variables and risk to be in any way effective. The film isn't very good with details to begin with. Based on the timeline, the film takes place in 2010, but it makes no effort to make its elements feel appropriate for that year. Five years may not seem like a very long time, but it's easy enough to notice when the characters are using gadgets that weren't around back then. The film doesn't bother to get that right, and it does even less to make the ridiculous scheme seem in any way plausible.
It just makes things too complicated, the film building to a climax of reversals that make very little sense. The film is much better when it focuses on the simple joys of Frank Martin hurting people. There are a couple of really inventive action sequences here that recall the sensibilities of Jackie Chan. Though none of the participants in these have quite the speed or the physical prowess of Chan, the scenes work out pretty well in the end. They're at least pretty fun to watch.
This is also where Ed Skrein shines the most. He doesn't quite have the same magnetic presence that his predecessor brought to the role, but he does convey some charm when he's beating people up. He's less appealing when he's talking. He comes off as smug rather than professional, and it makes Frank a lot less appealing. Ray Stevenson is having all the fun in this movie playing Frank's dad. This ugh the role kind of gets icky, the actor's aging tough guy swagger is exactly what the film needs.
The thing about The Transporter Refueled is that it didn't need to be a Transporter movie at all. It's hardly about Frank Martin, the film ultimately contriving his involvement in this absurd revenge plot. But this is the world we live in now. Given a choice between an original property and an established brand, the big studios are always going to choose to give us more of the same. The awesomeness of some of the action sequences in this film is largely undone by the unavoidable realization that much of this picture is simply a product of commercial compromise.
My Rating:
