A Fun Diversion. Not Much More.

Rating: 7/10 (26 June 2010)

i liked it. it took me a long time to finally watch one of these films (how many are there again?), but it was better than i expected.
i can't say i just love Luc Besson. i find him interesting but that's about it. i can't say i relate to a movie based on what? some BMW promo series on the internet? you gotta be kidding. how (no pun) commercial.
actually this film seemed loosely based on Walter Hill's film 'The Driver' which was much deeper and a better film. this film was just more cranked up and testosterone charged. that doesn't always make a better film. Walter Hill's film has a better script, is more reflective and is a good example of contemporary (contemporary enough, that was the 80's) film noir.
in defense of 'Transporter' i will say this. it wasn't Michael Bay, and at least in this first film (haven't seen the others), it used real stunts and not a lot of CGI stunts. i miss the old days when a stunt or an explosion was done for real and not just done with CGI (even when it's state of the art you can always tell it's CGI). it was to the 'Transporter's' credit that they actually staged pretty much all the stunts unlike 'Transformers' which had a lot of the action inter-spliced with CGI effects.
i didn't think the plot was so bad or nonexistent, it was just kind of simple. but it had a good message about not treating human beings like slaves or commodities. it was solidly directed if not a little too "busy", and the actors were likable and sexy and, let's face it, Jason Statham is outrageous to watch in action. a sort of European Bruce Lee.
not gonna make any attempt to say this was great cinema or anything, but it was entertaining, pretty much did what it professed to do, and it probably should be treated with a little bit more respect than it seems to have gotten from critics and audiences.