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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 2.35:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  • Dual Layer ( )
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  Subtitles
    Italian, Hebrew, Czech, Greek, Polish, Hungarian, Dutch, Portuguese, English - Hearing Impaired, Turkish, Icelandic, Croatian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish
  Extras
  • 3 Deleted scenes
  • 1 Audio commentary
  • Featurette

The Transporter

20th Century Fox/20th Century Fox Home Entertainment . R4 . COLOR . 88 mins . M15+ . PAL

  Feature
Contract

Frank has rules. The first rule is: Never Change The Deal.

The second is: No Names.

This is the cheerful tale of Frank, an ex-military retiree who transports anything anywhere without question. This means he can be given practically anything and so, when he discovers a bag that moves is his cargo, naturally his curiosity is piqued. Of course, when the cargo is human it’s not going to be some dirty-singleted slob from a Springer audience, it’s going to be a hot young thing with a problem. Now Frank has broken his third rule: Never Open The Package.

"You’re like dog shit! You’re everywhere! "

What follows are some predictable action scenes, the compulsory beautiful vistas, state of the art expensive hardware and a grudging romance. Not without its unique measures, though it does belong under the scrutiny of the learned DVDnet BDAF formula. A positive acronym for Big Dumb Action Film, this film sits very happily among the countless multitude of action films gracing home shelves, video store shelves and pulping mills everywhere.

Don’t misunderstand me here, I really enjoyed the film. The leads have a nice chemistry between them and the action does have some incredible stunts and fighting sequences, some of which haven’t been done before and would make Jackie Chan proud. There is an amazing sequence among barrels of spilling oil that is one of the greatest fight scenes I’ve ever witnessed and some of the incredible car sequences could rival anything by Kennedy-Miller.

Statham as an action hero is quite credible, pulling some wild fighting stances and moves. He tends to look like a young close-cropped Bruce Willis in parts, but his height and physique soon dispel these similarities. It does appear, though, as if he’s almost being groomed as the new Willis at times, particularly with the whole BDAF thing going on. Then there’s the fact that Luc Besson, writer/director of The Fifth Element, co-produced and co-wrote the screenplay. The love story seems a little tacked together, with the unique chemistry of Qi and Statham being virtually wasted in their brief naked encounter. It struck me as a sort of half-hearted approach to the action film thing in this instance, but happily, they keep it brief and let our imaginations do the work (or ignore and move along).

Some classic imagery appears throughout as well, including a couple of wonderful balsa wood door/gates to bust through in a speeding car and rocket-launched assaults on houses. One nice feature occurs during some fighting scenes that’s a little different: baddies actually feeling the agony of being kicked in the face without just slumping unconscious. Very Brad Pitt being punched in the ear a la Fight Club.

Finally, if I may go back to the action, the film maintains pretty even credibility right up until the finalé, when our suspension of disbelief may be well and truly tested. There is a particular unfortunate instance of two cars colliding and detonating on impact that is immediately dispelled upon slow tracking, showing the detonation occuring before the contact. Also, shades of Mad Max 2 (or The Road Warrior) and even Raiders of the Lost Ark, make appearances, though you will no doubt pick those up yourself.

  Video
Contract

Spectacular vision throughout that will not disappoint you. In the monumental widescreen aspect of 2.35:1 and 16:9 enhanced, this film looks absolutely awesome. The effects and car stunts appear in amazing clarity, as do the flesh tones and shadows within. No detail is lost and blacks are true blacks, though there are unfortunate instances of aliasing. These are infrequent though and barely worth mentioning, particularly as there are no film artefacts within (or at least none I could see). This aliasing forms the only real failing of the video, and again, it’s hardly worth mentioning (although that’s twice now.)

The computer-aided effects are mostly spectacular, with only a tiny few being pickable as such. There is a very nice effect used on bullets speeding through walls and such in which apparent ‘tracer fire’ has been used. This adds an exciting dimension to the gun battles that hasn’t been present in screen gunfights before (except war films of course). In fact, I’m surprised it took someone this long to come up with it.

One flaw in the computer stuff occurs during a particular ripping explosion in which the old George Lucas ‘Expanding Shock Wave Ring’ erupts from the epicentre of the boom-boom. This is, as any astrophysicist will tell you, theoretically impossible (as it was in the Star Wars – Special Editions, if you’ve ever heard of them. They’re a relatively unheard of franchise that has gained a little following over the years). Anyway, physics aside, it still looks kick-arse. Suspend your disbelief and all becomes clear.

The photography of the mountainous European scenery is incredibly beautiful and an extra highlight of this visually amazing tour de force. Not just an action film, then, and certainly not one shot in a studio somewhere and computer-aided. Good stuff.

A final mention to the Matrix-like opening titles. Very nice and pretty funky to look at, but seemingly unrelated to the feel of the film as it progresses. Those Wachowski brothers have so much to answer for...

  Audio
Contract

My speakers are fried now. The sound here is incredible with plenty of nice clear banging and booming and round-the-rooming. Quite phenomenal stuff. There’s a killer soundtrack too, but I’ll get back to that in just a moment. All the dialogue is well spoken, mostly, though there are so many different accents in this piece it may leave your head spinning a little. There’s at least French, English, American and Chinese that I counted, but maybe you’ll catch more. A massive stack of international subtitles is quite respect-worthy also, though I couldn't believe a movie set in France doesn't have French language or French subtitles! It’s still nice when the studios (Fox, in this regard) respect the communities of the world in having so many subtitles though (and I’m sure making money has nothing to do with it...) I should also mention that the sound editing is top notch, with every spanging bullet and flying chunk of plaster perfectly edited. There are no stock sound effects either, which I am very pleased to report. Very pleased indeed.

And now, the soundtrack. This is all fantastic, but I couldn’t help but get the impression it was misplaced throughout, as if someone had jumbled where tracks were supposed to be and hadn’t quite put them back in the right order. This left some action scenes, and particularly the opening sequence, looking less like an action film and more like a clinical advert or infomercial for transporting as a career. However, some fight scenes are bang on and the music builds onto them very well indeed. The fight in the bus depot and the oil spill melees are well accompanied by their music, as is the Wall Street house sequence, so it’s by no means all bad. Even those using, let’s say, ‘not quite appropriate’ music aren’t bad, just different to the traditional whilst still being similar. That make sense?

  Extras
Contract

Some cool stuff here, though not tons. There’s one Audio Commentary that gives some interesting and technical insights into the film that is quite well spoken and well put together. Jason Statham and producer Steven Chasman do the honours on this one, though director Cory Yuen joins them for the optional Audio Commentary on the three Extended Scenes. These are all fight scenes and are awesome with the extra footage, putting dots on ‘i’s and crossing the ‘t’s of the final cuts. If your optional commentary doesn’t suit, there’s a music-only soundtrack over these. Also, and finally on this, all extended scenes are presented in 2.35:1 without enhancement and include suite notes and counters.

Last of all there is a typical sell job masquerading as a 12 minute Making of Featurette. This is typical fare and nothing to write home about, featuring some comments from interviews that appear in other forms during the commentary.

So, all up, not a lot of extras, but they’ve at least handled the limited inclusions with some class.

  Overall  
Contract

This is a great brainless movie. A very thin plot links the fight scenes and action sequences, but who cares for the plot? As a film it doesn’t promise anything and delivers more than that, so I’m happy. It’s nothing more than an action movie, but it has been done with some style and with respect to the acting abilities of the stars. Statham is a treat in his role, pulling moves that Willis couldn’t have done on his best days and devoid of Willis’ irritating ‘summing up or thinking look’. Special effects are dazzling and the vision is nothing short of spectacular. Audio is awesome and although the extras are a bit of a let down, the film is more than enough and good enough to watch time and again. I doubt this one will collect a lot of dust on shelves and will please anyone looking for a slightly different take on the big budget action movie. I should expect a sequel, without doubt.


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      And I quote...
    "No dust-collector this – repeated viewing is practically guaranteed."
    - Jules Faber
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Nintaus DVD-N9901
    • TV:
          Sony 51cm
    • Receiver:
          Diamond
    • Speakers:
          Diamond
    • Surrounds:
          No Name
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard Optical
    • Video Cables:
          Standard Component RCA
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