In the south of France, former special-ops mercenary Frank Martin enters into a game of chess with a femme-fatale and her three sidekicks who are looking for revenge against a sinister Russian kingpin. Frank Martin, played by newcomer Ed Skrein, a former special-ops mercenary, is now living a less perilous life - or so he thinks - transporting classified packages for questionable people. When Frank's father (Ray Stevenson) pays him a visit in the south of France, their father-son bonding weekend takes a turn for the worse when Frank is engaged by a cunning femme-fatale, Anna (Loan Chabanol), and her three seductive sidekicks to orchestrate the bank heist of the century. Frank must use his covert expertise and knowledge of fast cars, fast driving and fast women to outrun a sinister Russian kingpin, and worse than that, he is thrust into a dangerous game of chess with a team of gorgeous women out for revenge. From the producers of LUCY and the TAKEN trilogy, THE TRANSPORTER REFUELED is a fresh personification of the iconic role of Frank Martin, that launches the high-octane franchise into the present-day and introduces it to the next generation of thrill-seekers. One man's trash, another man's treasure and all that, scavengers rummaging through garbage are always optimistic about finding something of value. Not here. Before I begin to hack this film to pieces (to find anything of value of course), let's start with an old school adage – Point blame at someone and there's always three fingers pointing back at you. In relating that saying to this fourth installment of The Transporter franchise, as long as cinema goers are dumb enough to pay hard earned money to watch just about anything, then absolute junk will be recycled over and over again. For The Transporter Refueled, that's just the outer layer of decomposition. <br/><br/>With none of the cast and crew from the previous films, Refueled runs on fumes even before it goes into first gear. Replacing Jason Statham as the titular protagonist, Ed Skrein's Frank Martin often says "buckle up". Problem is, the film doesn't budge past the first gear and neither does the Audi A8 that replaces the BMW 7-series, the Mercedes S-class or the Lamborghini Murciélago from the previous films. Very early in the film, the Audi does a cool trick until it immediately dawns on you that a Pontiac Trans Am called "Kitt" did this trick over thirty years ago. And while the previous films were an exhibition of brawn over brain, this pathetic excuse of an action film has neither, nor does it seem to care. Somewhere between an elaborate plan where prostitutes revolt against their pimps, the so called action consists of hand-to-hand combat and three car chases. Blink and you'll miss the third chase – Martin on a jetski versus the villain in a Mercedes G-class on land! Equally cringe worthy is the father-son bonding (Ray Stevens as Martin's dad) which is as effective as securing a square peg in a round hole. Dig deeper and you'll find that Refueled is not only poorly scripted, acted and directed to such an appalling extent, it's very making is a blatant insult to anyone paying to watch this film. But if you do watch this garbage, don't say I didn't warn you. <br/><br/>If you can sit through it, the stench of vomit lasts about 90 minutes. Unfortunately, cinemas don't come with barf bags like airplanes do, so passing your popcorn bucket to the next person is the only way viewers can relieve themselves of nausea. On the positive side, it must be noted that there's hope for film school rejects. If anything, Refueled is a classic example that any Tom, Dick and Harriet can make a movie. I can just imagine the hiring notice for the fifth film - Apply within, no skill required. They say that no matter how weird, it always is good to be yourself and if you want improve then there is no one to compare than your previous self. Unfortunately the captain of this boat has to prove he is better than the one who directed the franchise earlier. And he selects to improve the most irrelevant part of such movies, A COMPLICATED STORY LINE which is both incoherent and over written to a level that this could be 10 seasons television series. This new director, Camille Delamarre, who has worked on some brilliant projects (Taken, District B-13) as editor and when you talk about action flicks, editing is as important task as the action set pieces itself. We see how the directors who also edit their own movies, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Greengrass, and Robert Rodriguez get the best out of their screenplay and direction. Anyways, this brilliant editor turned a below average director's first task was Brick Mansions, a failed remake of District B-13 and now The Transporter Refueled. Not exactly the remake, but kind of extension of previous movies with new cast. The problem resides with both, the cast and the direction. My problem is also the focus towards the genre. I understand that good story and suspense are great to have in an action flick but when you are working with material as cartoonish as The Transporter, you can't be too heavy handed and serious in your delivery. The lead actor does his best to portray a tough former British SS Agent now working as a rogue, shady transporter. But he isn't able to bring the charm, toughness into the action sequences establish by Jason Statham. It was stupid that in previous movies with all those guns totting villains why they decided to have hand to hand combat. But we rather focused on sheer delivery of those action sequences and enjoyed while they lasted. This one totally fails in that arena. Not even the chase sequences have that adrenaline rush as seen in couple of sequences in the earlier movies. The story has another waste of time and cast with adding up a family member to The Transporter as a side kick. I like such characters in movies, which have hidden pasts, and no family. It is adds up to the intrigue of the protagonist that is as badass as The Transporter's Frank Martin, and also saves complication why he chooses the life he is living. This one left a bad taste and disappointment in general. I always wonder that there may come a day where an A list director like Christopher Nolan or Martin Scorsese will try to lay their hands on Transporter Franchise. But as we see Luc Besson, as enterprising he is in giving us the Directors like Pierre Morreil and Olivier Megaton the chance to direct movie instead of commercials, he is also wasting his time in reinventing something that is hardly a couple of years old franchise and totally not in need of reboot. I think he could work on remake of Leon:The Professional, it has been little over two decades since that movie came out and made a star of Natalie Portman and Jean Reno. The movie’s ridiculous.
Alrchry replied
367 weeks ago