Rating- * * * (3/5)
British film has always been able to compete with Hollywood in most areas; their human drama, spy thrillers, and horror films have usually measured up to Hollywood standards. But there is one area where the British will never be able to compete with Americans: the action movie. Action movies are the staple of the American male moviegoer’s diet. Almost every year there is an action movie among the top three grossing movies of the year. It’s a tradition dating back to the Golden Age of Hollywood. You can call us barbarians if you like, but we Americans love our action. The British have been churning out those delightful Bond films since the ‘60s but other than that their action output is minimal. The Transporter is a good example of why we don’t see British action films very often. The concept is pretty cool: Jason Statham plays a contract driver who will drive anything to anywhere for a pretty hefty price. He lives by three rules: never change the deal, no names, and never open the package. The movie opens with a pretty impressive chase scene through the streets of Nice that rivals some of the recent chase scenes from movies like Bourne Identity and Minority Report. The cinematography in the action scenes is great and very easy to follow and Statham remains unassailably cool in his black suit as he drives up staircases and off of bridges. The movie starts out well-enough but quickly takes an unfavorable turn when Statham breaks one of his cardinal rules: he opens the package. Inside he finds a beautiful young Chinese girl (Qi Shu) who he, of course, begins to fall in love with to the tune of some of the most terrible music ever put in a film. Let me take a moment to discuss music in film; there are basically two ways to do music in the movies. You can do a score, which is like background music that is composed specifically for the movie, like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, or you can do what’s called source music, which is taking real songs that you might hear on the radio and use them in the film at an appropriate moment. The Transporter lists in the credits that it has an original score, which may very well be because I had never heard any of the music used in the film. But the music is so ill-matched to the action on the screen and the tone it sets is so inappropriate, it almost cancels out the fun of the action. The music that comes on when Statham first sees Shu sounds like it’s out of a second-rate porno (not that I’ve seen any second-rate porno, I’m just saying). By far the worst moment of this film comes in the form of scuba-diving scene. First off, no underwater scenes of any kind ever work in action films; they slow the action down and by nature cannot be very exciting. But the combination of the slow underwater action with some terrible music makes this scene cringe-worthy. But that’s enough talk about the bad stuff. I am being a bit unfair to what is probably a pretty decent action flick. The action sequence direction is fantastic and clearly comes from the Hong Kong school of action. There is one fight scene that takes place in an oil slick that is probably the highlight of the film and definitely worth seeing. Aside from the major problems this film suffers from, The Transporter is a pretty good action film and if you are looking for some great car chase or kung fu scenes, look no further. But if you are looking for an intelligent plot, stylish direction, or great acting you might want to look elsewhere.