Despite Many Hindrances.. This Movie Transports !

Rating: 7/10 (30 January 2009)

How did the girl manage to go into the second car while her hands, so her feet, were being tied up to a chair? Why the gang didn't send a simple guy with one gun to kill the Transporter and the girl at the first's house? (Great waste of ammo if you asked me!). How this Transporter gets illegal jobs to transport bank robbers, while his face is exposed for all??
Naaaaa.. Don't bother yourself. It deals with shutting up, and shutting down, the brain. So at one point, when a bunch of bad guys attack the lead frantically, you'll notice how all of them is without guns, and after long-4-parts fight with them you'll see FINALLY the bad guys WITH the guns coming pretty late I suppose, or is it the right time, regarding the nature of it as straightforward pure direct-to-action flick. It's a typical moment to define what really this movie is all about.
It looks like some of the action movies that were made in Europe in the 1960s & the movies of Hong Kong in the 1980s, being clever when it comes to deliver popcorn, so it's a good transporter itself. The action is wonderful, the backgrounds are gorgeous, Qi Shu was charismatic and childish, François Berléand was mildly funny, the music score is enjoyable putting a human feel to it, and the rest of the soundtrack drives the movie as a disco night.
On the other hand, (Jason Statham) is really silly, looking more like his car. Yes, he did his share of fighting fairly, doing most of his stunts. But away from that he's metallic, and electronic, except for the few moments where he gives us his bad impression of Clint Eastwood!
The motive of the lead, about smuggling Chinese people, can be replaced with anything else: money, gold, drugs, expensive art piece, nuclear bomb, kidnapped kid, et cetera. Of course the "people" will put a sensitive side to the character and make a human out of the (Statham). Though, the movie deals with them as if they're just like any of the previous choices. Anyhow, this is unmixed action time, so don't be BORING!
I must say that (Matt Schulze) as the evil EVIL guy (Wall Street) was ugly, particularly with his idiot eyes. He almost said to the lead: "Hey, there is a bomb in the bag I'm giving you, I'm evil man Ha Ha Haa!". But, to tell you the truth, I think that (Ric Young)'s hairpiece was uglier!
And what about the 2 police patrols that the transporter met while the girl's attempt to escape? He was a reason of their horrible death! Originally, to where he was taking them during their being in the car's trunk? But why the scriptwriters would bother themselves with points like that, you'll forget it anyway during the loud next sequences, and with the lead saving all the souls at the end, he's wholly forgiven!
Watch out for the scene where the transporter survives a shower of bullets by hiding behind a door. You'll find that again at the next Transporter movie; I began to believe that doors can be bulletproof indeed!
Nevertheless, it's saner than its sequel. For instance, you read that at (Statham)'s request, the producers took out a moment when his character deflecting a missile with a tea tray, at the assault on (Frank)'s house, as "he didn't think audiences would believe it". In the next movie, they'll listen to Statham less (it's something related to getting rid of a bomb in a car's bottom!).
In this formula, I've been bothered the most by one part; when Jason Statham is forced to take off his shirt, being in one long fight with so many unarmed men, getting into a mud fight-like with dozen of them, then concluding this sequence by kissing another man (Ugh!) just to suck air out of him in the water!! It's not a haphazard; it's the way some movies want to be commercial even if cheaply and disgustingly.
Anyway, you can watch it while traveling in a bus, or if you want to beat some people you hate, or at lonely night when you're not able to sleep. In fact, I read that the real money that this movie made was through the DVD sales.
And yes, I think that the monkey in the photo with the child was (Statham) as a kid not the other way around.. Just kidding :)