A Hero Worthy of a Better Film

Rating: 4/10 (24 August 2006)

Frank Martin is a "transporter", which in this context seems to be a euphemism for "courier to the criminal fraternity". For the right fee he delivers "packages" around Europe, subject to three self-imposed rules. First, he will never change the terms of a deal once it has been agreed. Second, he will ask no questions about the identity of the persons with whom he is dealing. Third, he will ask no questions about the contents of the package- and will certainly never open it. The film deals with what happens when Frank breaks his third rule. On one journey he notices that a package, which he had assumed contained something inanimate, is moving, and obviously contains something living. Frank opens it to find that what has been consigned to his care is actually a beautiful young Chinese woman.
Frank now begins to question his amoral, no-questions-asked philosophy. He learns that the girl is called Lai, and that the men who hired him to transport her are involved, together with her father, in an illegal scheme to smuggle Chinese immigrants into Europe. Frank decides to protect Lai, but in doing so he discovers that both he and she are in danger from the ruthless people-smuggling gang.
Jason Statham seems to be Britain's first entrant into the world of the tough-guy action hero, previously dominated either by Americans (Stallone, Segal, Diesel) or Continental Europeans (Schwarzenegger, Van Damm, Lundgren). On the evidence of this film, he seems to be able to act a bit (something that cannot be said of all his rivals) and makes Frank a stylish hero, a mixture of East-End bovver boy and James Bond. On the one hand his expensive BMW cars, his smart tailor-made suits and his elegant home (a converted lighthouse) on the French Riviera speak of a Bond-like sophistication. On the other, his skinhead-type haircut and his tough-guy manner betray his working-class roots. (He would have been more convincing as a Cockney, but attempted to play the role with an American accent, doubtless to pacify that section of the American market that regards British English, especially when spoken with anything other than a "posh" accent, as an incomprehensible foreign tongue).
In many ways, in fact, I felt that Frank was a hero worthy of a better film than this one. The film's numerous chase sequences show the influence of the Bond films (especially the sequence near the beginning where Frank uses his driving skills to escape from the police, at one point making a daring leap to insert his car onto the upper deck of a car transporter), but it lacks the wit and style which are the hallmark of the Bond series. The nearest it gets is a sort of grim gallows humour. (Frank refuses to drive the getaway car for a gang of bank robbers because there are four of them, rather than three as he had been led to believe, so the leader of the gang solves the problem by shooting dead one of his own men). The film also lacks a notable leading lady. Shu Qi is a well-known actress in the Far East, but this was her first English-language film, and she did not seem fluent enough in the language to be a credible heroine.
As with most films of this type, spectacular action is more important than plausibility; the action sequences generally involve feats that would be improbable, or even impossible, in real life. As always, the villains fire off vast quantities of ammunition from powerful automatic weapons without ever once finding their target; action heroes and their girlfriends obviously have some miraculous immunity to bullets. Most of those reviewers who have defended this film have pointed out that action-adventure films are not supposed to be realistic. That is a fair enough point, but the main problem with the film is not a lack of realism but rather the lack of a decent plot. The first half, up until the point where Frank discovers who Lai really is, seemed clear enough, but the second half just seemed a confusing series of chase sequences, shoot-outs and martial-arts fights. It is all very well using a mixture of kung-fu skills and CGI techniques to produce a piece of pure escapist entertainment, but I always find that sort of escapism to be more entertaining when it is placed in the context of a plot which, if not strictly realistic, is at least comprehensible. 4/10