Like the French setting, true ripe camembert

Rating: 4/10 (14 October 2002)

Enter Jason Stratham, a guy who has certainly kicked in some steroids and new muscle entering the new found territory of 'the action hero'. Certainly along stretch from his roles in Snatch, and Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels. Jason is the "Transporter" and ex military guy living in France who delivers stuff for 'dubious clientele' so long as they follow his rules. However, the transporter screws up by breaking the rules by opening a package and getting involved when he ends up transporting a Chinese woman to someone.
At this point you want to know where the story is suppose to go, but what really happens is it goes nowhere. Sure it's an action film, with a great car chase and some great unique fight sequences. But at some point the people making this tried to make the story solve itself within 5 minutes in an office room as they start introducing more bad guys, and try to write up a hasty conclusion.
From this point on you can't even like the film for its stupidness. It doesn't even get to maintain some degree of B movie camp. Worse is that the acting when needed particualry between Straham and You Qi is so chessy and SOOOOOOOO bad it is cringe inducing to listen to. Like the great French setting this movie reaked of over ripe camembert.
It's too bad cause Stratham is definitly passible as an action hero, and the oil slick fight scene is quite ingenious. But the HORRIBLY bad acting, horrible dramatic moments, and lack of any comedic fun make this film DEATHLY DULL. There are also some unbelievable continuity errors the most obvious being that one of the rules for the transporter is that nobody knows his name, but 1/2 way through the film at one point, You Qi is calling him Frank for no reason or explanation. Sure an action film can be void of these things sometimes, but at some point the film has to be a fun ride. This one sure is not.
Rating 4 out of 10