Movie Review: The Transporter

At first, I was hesitant to watch The Transporter. It isn't quite a cult film, but it is close to it. There are several acquaintances who absolutely love the film. But to be honest, I never heard of it until the release of Transporter 3.

If you haven't seen the film, it is basically about a man, Frank Martin, who delivers 'packages' without caring about why or whom the person/thing is. He absolutely loves cars and is a great fighter. Actually, he is unrealistically good at both (which explains why some people absolutely love the film while others hate it).

So Mr. Martin gets this girl, Shu Qi, and is supposed to deliver her. The problem is, he gets too involved. He starts talking to her and getting to know her. She cooks for him (oooh ahhh) and they basically become friends. This of course is all happening while he is kicking serious butt.

In one scene, Martin stops the car and lets Shu Qi take a leak in the nearby woods. She is tied up, so Martin unties her hands and legs so she can walk and do her business. As a way to make sure she doesn't run away, he ties a noose around her neck. See the flaws? She just lifts the noose off her neck since her hands are free and puts it on a bush then attempts to run away. Martin finds her quickly, but so do other men who wish to take her from him. This is when he shows some of his badassery. He beats up four men single-handed much like in Jackie Chan films but in a less realistic way.

Later, he ends up getting in another fight (there are many fight scenes), and is completely kicking butt. But, he can do more. Once his shirt is ripped off he really begins to kick some ass. I wish this would happen to me. Say I'm at a bar getting hammered and some guys come along and start hitting on my girlfriend. I then try to 'protect' her and start fighting. I then punch each one and am holding them off fine. Then, all of the sudden I take my shirt off and become an invincible kicking ass machine. That would be awesome.

Although the film is very unrealistic at least it is so much so that anyone can tell it is Hollywood magic and can't be confused with possible real-life scenarios. I absolutely hate it when films try to cover up what would really happen by adding every-so-slight exaggerations (if that makes sense). You know, like when a car gets shot and it explodes. This is why (at least I assume why) people love the Kill Bill movies (which I absolutely loath).

Rating: 3 1/2 stars (out of 5 possible)