In the spirit of the Transporter films, I’ll cut right to the chase: The onomatopoeic Ed Skrein (The Sweeney) is an odd choice to anchor this rebooted franchise, sans Jason Statham. He looks like Mad Max: Fury Road’s Nicholas Hoult, but more elfin and with impeccable dress. In my rough estimation, Skrein has maybe 18% to 23% of Statham’s charisma. Amazingly, that range of points is enough to keep The Transporter Refueled running on the plus side of watchability.
Fifteen years after being forced into prostitution in the French Riviera (could be worse!), the fetching Anna (Loan Chabanol, Third Person) finally hatches her long-gestating plan of revenge against Russkie superpimp Kasarov (Radivoje Bukvic, A Good Die to Die Hard). It entails a few fellow hookers, matching disguises, a bank robbery and — hired as the no-questions-asked getaway driver — special-ops vet turned professional transporter Frank Martin (Skrein). Oh, and for added stakes, the kidnapping of Frank’s newly retired tomcat pop (Ray Stevenson, Punisher: War Zone). Souped up with built-in gadgetry like rotating license plates, the Audi that Frank drives skirts 007 territory; it’s the Tonto to his Lone Ranger.
With the franchise co-creator Luc Besson aboard as a writer and producer, The Transporter Refueled feels very much like an extension of the previous films — far more than the rather meh cable-TV series does. While not as good as the 2002 original or 2005’s Transporter 2, this fourth film leaves 2008’s autopiloted Transporter 3 in the dust. It has to help that director Camille Delamarre is a protégé of Besson, having helmed 2014’s Brick Mansions (itself an English-language remake of 2004’s Besson-penned/produced parkour-packed District B13).
Statham’s loss excepted, this Refueled reboot ticks all the boxes it’s expected to: fast cars, hot women, Eurotrash villains, thrilling stunts and no brain. Fulfilling that last requirement is a third-act, physics-defying howler involving a Jet Ski and a car window. You’ll know it when you see it, because you’ll laugh aloud and replay it. —Rod Lott