Lost in Transportation
Frank Martin (Ed Skrein - Kill Your Friends) was once a special-ops mercenary but these days, when he isn't driving his father, Frank Martin Sr. (Ray Stevenson - Big Game), around, he is a driver for hire who uses his special skills to deliver items which need special treatment. But it is how both Frank and his father end up involved with a group of determined women, lead by Anna (Loan Chabanol), who not only involve them in a robbery but also getting revenge on Arkady Karasov (Radivoje Bukvic) a crook who runs a string of prostitutes.
For those who have enjoyed the Transporter movies with Jason Statham just imagine a world where those movies never existed and this movie, "The Transporter Refueled", was your first encounter with Frank Martin and his expert skills not only when it comes to driving but also hand to hand combat. I genuinely believe that the action, the styling, the set up of the relationship between Frank and his father would be enough to not only make this entertaining but enough to warrant a sequel. To put it simply, whilst there are things in "The Transporter Refueled" which are wrong the action is entertaining.
The trouble is that whilst Ed Skrein does a nice job of playing Frank Martin you can never stop yourself comparing him to Jason Statham and he always ends up second best. It means that for fans of the original Transporter movies "The Transporter Refueled" is a difficult movie, the sort of movie which you think shouldn't have been made. Yet it has to be said that Ray Stevenson's characterisation of Frank's dad is a real joy to watch and he very much makes the movie as entertaining as it ends up.
What this all boils down to is that "The Transporter Refueled" on one hand is a good action movie with plenty of car chases, snappy hand to hand combat and some entertaining characters. But at the same time it simply feels wrong for not starring Jason Statham.
