The Transporter

by NEIL NORMAN, Evening Standard

THE new French cinema is looking increasingly like the old American cinema. This Luc Besson-produced effort is a classic example of a thunderingly dumb, stunt-filled shoot 'em-up that collides the Hong Kong kickfest with Hollywood action flick circa 1980. The one concession to the 21st century is that it features another follicallychallenged hero.

First there was Vin Diesel (XXX), then gun-toting EastEnder Ross Kemp. Now Jason Statham (formerly of the Guy Ritchie Performing Posse) takes to the screen as Frank Martin, a "Transporter" (the latest buzz term for getaway driver) who plies his trade in and around Nice.

Frank has his own strict code of practice: no names, no questions, no changing the deal. Following one delivery - a package containing a living girl (Shu Qi) - Frank breaks a cardinal rule and becomes involved. Soon he's off escaping bullets, bombs and missiles, stripping to the waist at every opportunity to reveal an overworked-out torso and driving like a maniac whenever he gets behind the wheel of a car.

The plot has something to do with the smuggling of human cargo in a freight container which involves the girl's father (Ric Young, whose face is so plastic you could use it to open a Yale lock) but that is not the point.

The point is the action and there is enough to satisfy the most terminal fan. Explosions, gun battles, martialarts kick fights - including one inspired scene in a lake of oil spilled on to a warehouse floor - and driving stunts hijacked from Raiders of the Lost Ark, Mad Max and Speed all add up to an entertainment that is dumb at heart and loud on top. A sort of

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