Transporter 3Year: 2008
Director: Olivier Megaton
Starring: Jason Statham, Natalya Rudakova, François Berléand, Robert Knepper, Jeroen Krabbé
Distributor: Lionsgate
MPAA: Rated PG-13
Recently I was interested in watching a movie this thanksgiving. My ears got caught when I heard Transporter 3 is coming during this thanksgiving weekend. I found the first Transporter to be pretty good. The second one I found to be decent, but after I saw the third one I was left speechless on what I had just seen and it’s still bugging me as I write about it now. As we all know Jason Statham plays a role of a man named Frank Martin. Frank Martin is a transporter who lives in Europe and is known to deliver many personal items to many gangsters. The packages varies from drugs to humans. Martin makes his own set of rules such as never opening the package, but even rules cant always stay un-broken.
Plot Outline:
Frank Martin (Jason Statham) returns to his life of strict rules and transporting dangerous goods, but this time his mission isn't voluntary. When Frank turns down a job from the mysterious Mr. Johnson (Robert Knepper), he's unwittingly drawn back in when his replacement winds up dead. Forced to escort the kidnapped daughter of a high-ranking Ukrainian official from Marseilles to Odessa on the Black Sea, Frank must contend with Johnson's brutish thugs, the police, and government agents, as well as the advances from his rather aggressive passenger Valentina (Natalya Rudakova).
Plot: 
As we all remember from the first movie Frank broke one of his own rules and ended up getting mixed with his own clients trying to kill him. In the second movie Frank decided to become a chauffeur and was transporting a kid from school and back home on a daily day to day basis, but ended up fighting off criminals who wanted to use the boy in a kidnapping scam. In the third one Frank Martin has been pressured into transporting Valentina (by using a device which prevents him from moving 75 feet from his car or the bomb explodes) the kidnapped daughter of Leonid Vasilev the head of the Environmental Protection Agency for Ukraine, from Marseilles through Stuttgart and Budapest until he ends up in Odessa on the Black Sea. Many of Frank Martin’s rules were broken in this movie, but then again he was put in a life and death situation. This movie had many car chases and many fast paced fighting scenes that was fun to watch. The films plot was not comprehensible and lacked point of interest. It had a villain that simply had no interesting background and lacked creativity. My points of interest were mainly on the fight and car chases. Some aspects of the car chases were ridiculous especially the scene where Frank Martin was able to lean an Audi A8 W12 tilting while driving on the road for an inconsiderable amount of time.
As we all remember from the first movie Frank broke one of his own rules and ended up getting mixed with his own clients trying to kill him. In the second movie Frank decided to become a chauffeur and was transporting a kid from school and back home on a daily day to day basis, but ended up fighting off criminals who wanted to use the boy in a kidnapping scam. In the third one Frank Martin has been pressured into transporting Valentina (by using a device which prevents him from moving 75 feet from his car or the bomb explodes) the kidnapped daughter of Leonid Vasilev the head of the Environmental Protection Agency for Ukraine, from Marseilles through Stuttgart and Budapest until he ends up in Odessa on the Black Sea. Many of Frank Martin’s rules were broken in this movie, but then again he was put in a life and death situation. This movie had many car chases and many fast paced fighting scenes that was fun to watch. The films plot was not comprehensible and lacked point of interest. It had a villain that simply had no interesting background and lacked creativity. My points of interest were mainly on the fight and car chases. Some aspects of the car chases were ridiculous especially the scene where Frank Martin was able to lean an Audi A8 W12 tilting while driving on the road for an inconsiderable amount of time.
Cast: 
Jason Statham reprises his role as the transporting Frank Martin. He gave a good performance that was very enjoyable. The fight scenes in which he was part of, were all fun to watch. Statham is without a doubt, one of the biggest action heroes in Hollywood. Natalya Rudakova plays as Valentina and she gives a fair performance. Valentina is a Ukrinain a girl with very deep tone and also has an accent. Her role was played fairly enough, but she did play a more of slut type of a girl in this movie which is wired since she is a minister’s daughter. François Berléand also reprises his role as Inspector Tarconi. He gets a fair amount of screen time, but hes really only their when Frank needs him. It would have been nice to see him in more scenes considering hes a returning character. Robert Knepper plays as Johnson and he does a decent job. His character is very weak and hardly delivers enough "blow" to make him a big contender opposite Statham. I just think it was the weak script and not the actor himself.
Jason Statham reprises his role as the transporting Frank Martin. He gave a good performance that was very enjoyable. The fight scenes in which he was part of, were all fun to watch. Statham is without a doubt, one of the biggest action heroes in Hollywood. Natalya Rudakova plays as Valentina and she gives a fair performance. Valentina is a Ukrinain a girl with very deep tone and also has an accent. Her role was played fairly enough, but she did play a more of slut type of a girl in this movie which is wired since she is a minister’s daughter. François Berléand also reprises his role as Inspector Tarconi. He gets a fair amount of screen time, but hes really only their when Frank needs him. It would have been nice to see him in more scenes considering hes a returning character. Robert Knepper plays as Johnson and he does a decent job. His character is very weak and hardly delivers enough "blow" to make him a big contender opposite Statham. I just think it was the weak script and not the actor himself.
Picture: 
The picture quality for the film is somewhat of a mixed bag. The film has a peaceful type of tone to it and doesn't do anything to "wow" us. The movies print is in good shape since it was just released a few days ago. I saw no signs of film grain or any scratches. The films colors were somewhat over saturated. Some of the earlier scenes look alittle washed up and some of the later scenes look alittle brighter. Still, colors were mostly used and in enough ways to make the film look nice. The Ukraine locations doesn't pop with colors, but it still look generally nice. Detail was split in the middle. Parts of the film looked pretty sharp and clear while others looked alittle soft. I'm not sure if its the film makers style of shooting or just the cameras used, but its wasn't really stable. Its still a pretty god looking movie, but just don't expect to be wowed.
The picture quality for the film is somewhat of a mixed bag. The film has a peaceful type of tone to it and doesn't do anything to "wow" us. The movies print is in good shape since it was just released a few days ago. I saw no signs of film grain or any scratches. The films colors were somewhat over saturated. Some of the earlier scenes look alittle washed up and some of the later scenes look alittle brighter. Still, colors were mostly used and in enough ways to make the film look nice. The Ukraine locations doesn't pop with colors, but it still look generally nice. Detail was split in the middle. Parts of the film looked pretty sharp and clear while others looked alittle soft. I'm not sure if its the film makers style of shooting or just the cameras used, but its wasn't really stable. Its still a pretty god looking movie, but just don't expect to be wowed.
Sound: 
The music in Transporter 3 is somewhat of a let down. The previous Transporter films have all had some crazy rock/rap music that would go well with the action scenes, but that's mostly missing here. Sure we have music, but I just didn't like them as much as I liked the previous ones in the previous films. I don't know if it just didn't go well with the action or something else, but I just couldn't dig it. While the music may have not been my taste, but the bass is hardly anything to complain about. This is a rocking bass that delivers on every mount. Gun shots and car crashes all sound wonderfully clear. The bass is dynamically loud and comes on all front. The Transporter films have all had aggressive bass and this one surely doesn't disappoint. This is true reference material all the way.
The music in Transporter 3 is somewhat of a let down. The previous Transporter films have all had some crazy rock/rap music that would go well with the action scenes, but that's mostly missing here. Sure we have music, but I just didn't like them as much as I liked the previous ones in the previous films. I don't know if it just didn't go well with the action or something else, but I just couldn't dig it. While the music may have not been my taste, but the bass is hardly anything to complain about. This is a rocking bass that delivers on every mount. Gun shots and car crashes all sound wonderfully clear. The bass is dynamically loud and comes on all front. The Transporter films have all had aggressive bass and this one surely doesn't disappoint. This is true reference material all the way.
Conclusion:
In the end, Transporter 3 had some good acting with pretty decent performances, but also very horrible story line. Apparently the ending could have been figured out by anyone for the fact that Frank Smith will win and the bad guys will lose. There’s nothing suspenseful and hardly any shooting except for the bad guys. If you were excepting Jason Statham to shoot some thugs down because of the movie poster with him holding two guns, don’t get your hopes up. The movie is still a Transporter movie so what else would you expect after seeing the first two. Theirs never been any story relationships between the first and second film. Just judging by the trailers you would realize its going to have no story relationships in the third one. So if your in the mood for some car chases and Jason Stathom kicking people’s asses than please feel free to watch this movie, but I would highly recommend you wait for the DVD.
In the end, Transporter 3 had some good acting with pretty decent performances, but also very horrible story line. Apparently the ending could have been figured out by anyone for the fact that Frank Smith will win and the bad guys will lose. There’s nothing suspenseful and hardly any shooting except for the bad guys. If you were excepting Jason Statham to shoot some thugs down because of the movie poster with him holding two guns, don’t get your hopes up. The movie is still a Transporter movie so what else would you expect after seeing the first two. Theirs never been any story relationships between the first and second film. Just judging by the trailers you would realize its going to have no story relationships in the third one. So if your in the mood for some car chases and Jason Stathom kicking people’s asses than please feel free to watch this movie, but I would highly recommend you wait for the DVD.
Grade: D+
1 comment:
Although Statham continues to shine in the title role, the films have been progressively worse with each episode. The only thing that still fun in this film is only the action also the stunt, overall story and acting are absolutely out of gas.
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