Transporter 3

Underground courrier Frank Martin (Jason Statham) finds himself forced into service transporting a Ukrainian girl (Natalya Rudakova) for a mysterious organization.

Transporter 3 plays like an overlong and poorly edited commercial for Audi motors. Granted, it’s got a few things going for it: the nice European locales and a couple of fun performances from Jason Statham as the titualar character and François Berléand as his police inspector sidekick, but that’s about it.

It honestly seems that director Olivier Megaton, despite his kick-ass last name, can’t hold a shot for more than a handful of seconds. Thus the great action, be it the car chases, the martial arts fight scenes, or the big stunts toward the film’s finale, all feel disorienting and confusing. There’s never a “wow” moment because nothing’s on the screen long enough to register.

Top this off with new comer Natalya Rudakova’s broken English and flat performance and it’s basically left to Statham to carry the film, which he does, albeit barely. Statham’s good, bringing his usual charisma and dry delivery to the part, but even he can’t overcome the filmmaker’s mystifying infatuation with Rudakova which only serves to drag the plot, which itself is just an excuse to move from one action sequence to the next.

Ultimately, if you’re in the mood for this type of actioner, watch the original Transporter instead.