Abysmal - How can Luc Besson ever put his name to it?

Rating: 1/10 (7 September 2003)

I went into this picture to see an all out action film with a smart hero and a cool storyline. After all Luc Besson whose credits include Leon and The Fifth Element was credited for this film.
The films opening left me slack jawed with amazement. Not at the audacity of the driving and action but at the crass stupidity of all the players. Stathams bald hard man in a suit came across as one of the most incompetent idiots of all time. After all, who stands still after a robber questioning the number of people and yet allowing the police to come along? An idiot, that's who.
The plot lopes along carefully ignoring the massive holes that you could drive a herd of mastadon through and still leave room for the entire Mardi Gras procession in Rio! You have a heroine that shoots her father and then smiles happily at releasing a bunch of refugees whose likely fate is to be put on a plane back where they came from. You have Statham jumping from a Cessna plane that goes from skimming the roof of the lorry he is going to jump on to 20,000 feet in a second and whose parachute descent takes about the same time.
This is a godawful film and only amusing in places. The characters are wooden save for one, the laconic police inspector who saves the film entirely.
Please Luc ... get your act together. Do NOT ever put you name to such crass tripe again!