Quartile rating: 5/10 · 2 ratings
Former Special Forces officer Frank Martin will deliver anything to anyone for the right price, and his no-questions-asked policy puts him in high demand. But when he realizes his latest cargo is alive, it sets in motion a dangerous chain of events. The bound and gagged Lai is being smuggled to France by a shady American businessman, and Frank works to save her as his own illegal activities are uncovered by a French detective.
The Transporter is a slick, entertaining early-2000s action vehicle built around Jason Statham's physicality and a cool premise of a rule-bound ex-soldier driver. The plot is serviceable but thin, with the human-trafficking storyline handled superficially and the romance feeling forced. Acting is functional at best — Statham is charismatic but limited, and the supporting cast is broadly drawn. Cinematography and action choreography (courtesy of Corey Yuen) are genuinely stylish for the genre, with inventive fight sequences that elevate the material. Novelty is decent: the strict-rules anti-hero concept and European setting gave the action genre a fresh flavor at the time, though it doesn't transcend its B-movie DNA. The ending is formulaic and wraps up too neatly, with the final confrontation lacking real tension or surprise.