Transporter 3
Cast : Jason Statham, Valentina Rudakova
Direction : Olivier Megaton
Rating : **&1/2
The third installment in the unremarkable if popular action series brings back Jason Statham as a tough-as-nails mercenary. Result: Transporter 3 smacks of the slipshod mayhem of the first two collaborations.
This time around, daredevil driver (Statham) is ordered by a sadistic thug (Robert Knepper) to transport a scantily-clad Ukranian girl (Rudakova) from Marseilles to an undisclosed location in Budapest. Needless to carp, the odd couple forges a bond after the mandatory initial misunderstandings.
The one-dimensional characters are still saddled with cheesy dialogue. Lucklessly, even the car chases are picturised unimaginatively, despite their ludicrous excesses. To be fair, though, a couple of hand-to-hand combats are competently choreographed by the Hong Kong kung-fu master Cory Yuen.
The normally bankable French actor Francois Berleand is wasted in the role of a sarcastic sidekick. Robert Knepper as the villain is archly overbearing. Ultimately, it’s Jason Statham’s physical skills that keeps the second sequel somewhat roadworthy.