The Transporter Refueled

Ed Skrein doesn't hold a candle to Jason Statham in this role, try though he might. The actual plot is not too bad, with I wouldn't say twists and turns, but maybe the odd curved ball, to keep the viewer interested. Many of the stunts are pretty good. Some of the acting, though, is atrocious.

The new Transporter, who comes in the shape of Ed Skrein, has some big shoes to fill taking on a role that helped make Jason Statham a bona fide action star. I've only seen Skrein in one previous film, whilst I've seen nothing from director Camille Delamarre. But I'm certainly more familiar with Ray Stevenson, who plays the father of Frank Miller, a.k.a., The Transporter. In this regard, it's quite obvious that a Connery/Ford father- son dynamic has been sought, which gives the tiniest bit of personality to a film that falls completely flat from the onset and rarely picks up. The story is familiar -- the Transporter gets a job driving a package, the job goes wrong and he's in deep. It gets personal when his father is kidnapped, but with no grit on its wheels and Skrein trying in vain to create a new persona for this character, what it ultimately amounts to is flash cars, sexy girls, suits and stunts, but nothing more. Much like a glorified car advertisement.

Stunningly awful… I felt like I was watching robots mechanically delivering an emotionally vapid performance. Now if this was a pre-take walk through, it could be forgiven but as the final cut, it was deplorable. Only the father exuded some warmth and presence as a character that one could identify with and appreciate. The sheer lack of depth of the other characters was only matched by the lame attempts to humanize them. I am nearly speechless at how artificial the attempts were. Not sure if this was due to a really bad script, bad directing or terrible editing. I think the women made a valiant effort to give some dimension to their characters but in the end the whole enterprise was a sinking ship and the cast knew it….

The Good: Exciting car chase sequences, eventhough it sort of mimics the Fast Furious series. Ray Stevenson's Frank Martin Sr. steals the show. The Not-so-Good: Ed Skrein doesn't exudes the charm of Jason Statham's, which is one of the signature of the series. Thus he couldn't carry the movie on his own. Some of the fight sequences feel stilted and not as smooth as Transporter series' trademark. No chemistry between Frank and Anna, thus the feeling between them isn't too believable. Once again, Russian are stereotyped as bad guys.

It is just heartbreaking to say I did not like a transporter movie. But still, I did not like this transporter movie, at all !! It is expected from a transporter series to have top notch action sequences with Jason Statham throwing some mind blowing dialogues that would make a fan jump from his/her seat. But this Transporter got neither great action sequences nor good dialogues.

Ed Skrein tries his best to reach that level but fails in experience. His voice is a plus but still cannot deliver a good blow with his dialogue delivery. He also lacks that Badass look Jason used to have.

I was literally expecting the entire time for the movie to pick up pace and satisfy the action thirst that action movie lovers would have, but it stayed that dull movie where Hero would fight for some girl the entire time and kiss her at last. (kissing the Heroine with all bruises on Hero's face is now like a symbol that movie is over).

I don't know if they will make an other part of this but I only hope next one will be better.

Verdict: If you are very bored on the weekend, take a family trip,but try to avoid Transporter Refuelled. This movie is only for Transporter series fans who just don't want to skip a movie in the series.