Transporter 2
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Movie Reviews of Transporter 2
Movie Review: (3.5 STARS) 'Transporter 2': Better Actions and Faster Story
Summary: 4 Stars
Jason Statham comes back as the titular professional `Transporter' Frank Martin, whose cool attitude in the face of danger reminds me of Bruce Willis in the 80-90s. One great thing about `The Transporter 2" is, unlike the overblown sequel of `Die Hard," it clearly knows what it wants to, or should do, for the action flick fans, providing nicely done stunts of shoot-outs, car-chases, and martial-arts fighting. Though the story penned by Luc Besson is nothing but borrowed ideas from `Man on Fire' or any other action films that features one tough guy and a bunch of stupid cops, `Transporter 2' surely delivers its goods, and faster than before.
Two things are changed in the format of the original: one is the location that is moved to Miami. The other is that this time Frank's client is a rich American family, and what he carries is a little boy. Like Denzel Washington's world-weary hero, he is hired as a chauffer, but the difference is Frank has Jet Li-like physical agility that is seen in the opening sequences. In short, no one mess with him.
Actually, someone messes with him when the family sends the boy to a doctor's. The killers including Kate Nauta's deadly assassin with lots of make-up in short pants show up before him, demanding that the boy should be delivered to another place. From then on, the fast-paced film shows lots of actions in succession without stopping a moment.
[STATHAM RULES] `The Transporter 2' solely belongs to Jason Statham, who is truly in character. Always calm and stoic, Statham's Frank never lets you down, with the action hero quality that is rarely seen in Hollywood. Of course, behind the thrilling fight sequences is stunt choreographer Corey Yuen, and the use, or overuse of CGI is disappointing (and some of them are, to be honest, shockingly cheesy like a flying chopper), but Statham's presence makes up for the weakness of the film.
But some demerits should be pointed out, and they are many. Besides the ineffective special effects, the supporting actors leave much to be desired, especially Matthew Modine and Amber Valetta as the parents of the boy, whose constant overacting bored me to death. Jason Flemyng appears as Russian killer, but his acting is a poor copy of his Jikyll turn `The League of the Extraordinary Gentleman,' and Kate Naura looks gorgeous but is quite empty. Alessandro Gassman's baddie is worse, with laughably heavy accent, which is just a stereotyped image of Latino youth.
`Transporter 2" is an exciting movie experience as far as Jason Statham stays on the screen. Though the story often looks ridiculous, even stupid, the actions are better than average, well worth the money you may spend on this one.
Movie Review: Pretty good successor to the first Transporter. A couple of way over the top car scenes, though
Summary: 4 Stars
The important question is whether or not you liked the first "Transporter". If you did, and can put up with a bit too much emphasis on the vehicles, you will probably like this movie. It is light entertainment and has its own quirky style. For me, Jason Statham has a just right approach to the very serious and obsessively precise man. He is very skilled at violence, and so skilled that even while everyone is trying to kill him he does his level best to use the exact minimum level of violence to achieve his purposes. Really, he would just rather be driving his perfectly detailed car with every detail of the trip executed perfectly - to at least two decimal places of precision. If, like me, you find this idea a bit humorous and attractive, this movie is for you.
Both of the movies played off providing a human interest for this lonely, solitary man. In the first it was a romantic interest. Here it is a more dangerous choice of a child. Kids can make or break movies. Here it is more the idea of the kid. He is charming enough when he is on screen, but he really has a small part in the movie.
The fight scenes play on the same types of kicks, spins, and gimmicks of the first movie, but does find fresh ways to use them including a pretty funny bit with a yacht in dry dock. There are a few scenes that are just ridiculously over the top - you saw a couple of them in the trailers - I think one of the producers who popped for a bigger budget decided that the car was a star and wanted to do some uhmazzin things with it. Really, the special driving in the chase scenes is enough. We don't need to see the stupid car flying hundreds of feet from a skyscraper into an open floor across a wide street and land at an impossible angle. Nor do we need to see the car roll and use a crane to just perfectly knock a bomb off the bottom of the car. Oh, and just like you can't survive a falling elevator by jumping up, you can't survive a plane crashing into the ocean at 200 mph by throwing yourself towards the back of the plane. Sheesh.
Still, quite a bit of fun. And I enjoyed the visiting French detective. He added another nice touch. It was also nice to see Matthew Modine on screen. The villain was OK, but nothing really developed out of his early martial arts training scene. Enjoy the movie. Just don't think too hard.
Movie Review: still transporting some fun
Summary: 4 Stars
Jason Statham returns again as the cool transporter, this time involved in a less dangerous transporting business - the driver for a wealthy and famous Miami family. The action and choreography are still as cool as the beautiful scenes of Miami, but the characters and CGI useage hurt this sequal just a tad, thus making it slightly less entertaining than the first Transporter.
So on the positive note, Jason Statham is still wonderful in this sequal, fun to watch, and just down right cool to say the least. The action scenes are fun, and there is still some martial arts to please. The story is inetersting - at times - and the cinematogrpahy of beautiful Miami makes one want to starting earning the bucks to live in such a gorgeous place.
On the down side, the charcaters - especially the villains - are not nearly as enjoyable as the first film. The boss is rather average, but its his ridiculously skinny girl, who's always in the heat of action, that is somewhat distracting and not in a pleasant manner, despite her skimpy outfits. The CGI, which was rarely used in the 1st film, is more abundant this time, and is very obvious when used. Some of the action scenes are so wild, only CGI could be used to execute them. Unfortunately, they look too fake at times, especially they airplane which just happens to be the climax scene of the film. It was cool to see Frank (Jason Statham) and the bad guy fight it out inside a plane that was doing loopies, but it also ment no cool choreography for this final fight. Fortunately, there are some other scenes in the film that show off Corey Yuen's great choreographing.
Overall, a good action film that will succed in action entertainment, but don't expect a "great" action film. Jason Statham is the best part of Transporter 2, the rest is average. 3-1/2 stars overall.
Movie Review: Visceral Punch
Summary: 4 Stars
Like most fans, I came to "Transporter 2" after first loving the original film. While 2 does not aim for the character depth we got with the Asian characters, it does pack a wallop with sheer visceral punch. Louis Leterrier moves up from the Artistic Director of the original to direct this film. Moved to Miami, it gives the film a different look and different toys. (Leterrier followed this film with "Unleashed" with Jet Li.) As Frank Martin, Jason Statham shows he's a great action star. Building on "Lock, Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels" and "The Italian Job" + a stint as the heavy in "Cellular," he shines stage center as the Transporter. Amber Valetta from "Raising Helen" and her excellent appearance in "Hitch" does a good job as mother Audrey who puts concerns on her kidnapped son & floundering marriage. Matthew Modine as Jefferson Billings does a journeyman's job as the emotional lightweight father/husband. Jason Flemyng as the fake doctor Dimitri has a great character face that should result in many more film appearances in addition to "Layer Cake." As the criminal kingpin, Alessandro Gassman, son of Vittorio Gassman, turns in a chilling performance as the ruthless criminal mastermind. (I'd forgotten that I'd seen him in a very different role in "Steam: The Turkish Bath.") The fight sequence with Statham on the plane is a stellar brawl. Hunter Clary's first film as young Jack Billings shows the child actor off with a good range. He's a cute witty kid! Also in her freshman effort, Kate Nauta turns in the memorable performance as the amoral Lola who is comfortable in underwear, stiletto heels and a machine gun. Perhaps the plot about a 24-hour virus is a bit improbable, but it keeps the pace of the movie running at full throttle. This is an excellent sophomore effort. Enjoy!Movie Review: More of the same...
Summary: 4 Stars
After the surprise success of the first Transporter movie a sequel was inevitable but would it be as good? This is a question that is always asked of sequels because most movies don't need one. However, studios hungry for profits are always on the look out for a film franchise that they can exploit. The Transporter has such potential with each film being its own self-contained adventure complete with beautiful women, cool car chases and exciting fight sequences set in exotic locales.
If you liked the original then it is pretty much guaranteed that you'll dig this one as it serves up more of the same only cranked up another notch: the car chases are more fantastical (thanks to CGI) and the bad guys more colourful (fellow Guy Ritchie alumni Jason Flemyng plays one of the baddies).
The martial arts sequences were better in the first one (although, the fight scene where Frank takes on a bunch of thugs with a long metal pipe is very impressive) but the car chases in this movie are more impressive and greater in number. Even though Transporter 2 is slightly inferior to the original, it is still a very entertaining, highly enjoyable effort.
There are 14 (?!) deleted and extended scenes that flesh out certain scenes including one where Frank and the boy's mother actually kiss. However, the real treat for fans are the extended versions of most of the fight scenes (which include added gore cut for the PG-13 rating) and car chases.
Also included is a blooper reel, a making of featurette and one that focuses on the music.