Review of The Transporter Refueled (2015) by Orlando O — 03 Sep 2015

The Transporter Refueled does try to relive up to its predecessors, an action thriller with a simplistic plot, loud fun action sequences, and some decent acting. Yes, that is the direction on the fourth installment in the franchise, as the previous trilogy that had Jason Statham playing Frank Martin. Jason Statham did an awesome job, highlighting his martial arts performance and his role as a professional driver. Sure, there is a Transporter series that had Chris Vance taking on the role and did a good job as well. I have to say Ed Skrein taking on the role in this fourth entry, it was not the best, but it was not terrible either. Ed had a little more of a serious approach as this emotionless driver, but it was hard to take serious as he discusses with the other characters about the rules that he follows by while Jason Statham executed the character better.

The plot follows Anna (Loan Chabanol) and her three stunning girls who are planning heists on robbing from a sex trafficking organization that is controlled by Karasov (Radivoje Bukvic). Anna hires Frank Martin (Ed Skrein) to be there driver to execute these several jobs to bring down this organization.

The film does have several exciting action sequences from a car chase to watching Frank Martin fight against bad guys in small rooms using filing cabinets or his surroundings to his advantage. Director Camille Delamarre did okay in trying to make the film as exciting as it can be, from the action scenes, the music style, the stunning actresses and the archetype bad guy. The one thing the movie does fail at is giving these characters any depth; it tries to with Anna and her story about her mother selling her out to a prostitution ring as she tells Frank. It fails to capture the depth with Frank Martin and his father (Ray Stevenson). His father gets captured and held hostage, but the situation was hard to take seriously. The dialogue and chemistry between Frank and his father was mind numbingly brutal and the screenwriters did not spent any time in developing these characters. Ray Stevenson is not a bad actor, but his character did not add anything to the movie but attempting to raise the stakes with forcing Frank to do whatever it takes to get him back.

The Transporter Refueled is a dumb fun action thriller, it has the action, and it entertains but that is all it has to offer. It may not live up to the first installment, but it is better than the last movie with Statham.