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Movie Review - The Transporter 2 (2005)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
Louis Leterrier |
| Starring: |
Jason Statham, Amber Valletta, Kate Nauta, and Matthew Modine |
| Rated: |
PG-13 (for intense sequences of violent action, sexual content, partial nudity and brief
language) |
| Length: |
88 minutes |
| Genre: |
Action |
| Tagline: |
The Best In The Business Is Back In The Game. |
| Studio: |
20th Century Fox |
| Website: |
The Transporter 2 |
| Release: |
September 2, 2005 |
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PLOT
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Frank Martin is a mercenary who specializes in transporting goods of all kinds. This sequel finds him in
the midst of transporting a rich kid to and from school as a favor for a friend. However, he begins to
like the little chap, and when the kid is kidnapped Frank is determined to stop at nothing to rescue him.
Jason Statham's coolness ensues.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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"So Johnny, do you think I'd like The Transporter 2?"
How am I supposed to know? I haven't a clue regarding your movie tastes. Did you like the original The
Transporter?
"Yes, I enjoyed it for what it was."
Ah. There you go. If you like movies that specialize in ridiculously unbelievable, over-the-top action and
choreographed fight scenes (much like a Jackie Chan movie) then there's plenty here for you to enjoy. Personally,
I accepted the cartoonish feel of the action and reveled in it all. The fight scene with the fire hose was
particularly well-done. A better plot would have been nice, but oh well.
"So there's a required suspension of disbelief, huh?"
About as much as required in pretending Tom Cruise isn't a complete psycho. There's one scene where there's a
bomb attached to the bottom of Frank's car and disarming it includes speeding up, a ramp, turning the car 180
degrees in the air so it's upside down, and a hook on a crane. It was almost as ridiculous as Ben Kingsley's
poofy white wig in A Sound of Thunder, but I laughed out loud.
"How's Statham?"
Statham's the man. Plain and simple. The guy is the epitome of cool in whatever he does.
"And the rest of the acting?"
Well, actually referring to it as "acting" is open for debate. However, Amber Valletta is as cute as she's
required to be, and Kate Nauta is as naughty as her bad girl is required to be. Nauta's running mascara probably
deserves a credit of its own, but she plays the villain gal that fanboys like to drool over. Never have I so badly
wanted to be part of a kidnapping plot. Her acting skills could use a little honing, but she does what she's asked
to do - be alluringly bad and use her long legs to make you forget about the fact that it takes about 900 machine
gun rounds before she runs out of ammo.
"So basically if I like Jason Statham and don't mind action that's big on imagination but small
on realism then I'll dig the movie?"
Yeah, basically.
"OK, thanks."
You're welcome.
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ODDS & ENDS
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- Shannon Briggs (who plays "Max" in the movie) is a heavyweight boxer who is most famous for defeating George
Foreman.
- Matthew "Vision Quest" Modine has a role. He played some sort of, hmm, upper-class dude. Maybe someone in
politics? I've already forgotten. Says a lot about his performance, huh?
- You may remember Amber Valetta from Hitch. I doubt it though.
- Jason Statham was in The Italian Job with Donald Sutherland who was in Space Cowboys with
James Cromwell who was in an episode of The Young Riders with Josh Brolin who was in Hollow Man
with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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Mama wouldn't be too keen on this one. Profanity isn't overly abundant, but we do get at least one f-bomb and a
few "s" words. Ol' Lola is running around quite a bit in skimpy clothing though, and there's one scene where she's
lying in bed with only a towel strategically covering her. When she gets up, we see a brief glimpse of her boo-tay.
Kids might not understand a lot of the sexual innuendo, but this still isn't the kind of stuff they really need to
be watching.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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The trailer shows some of the most unbelievable moments in the movie, so it's a good judge on whether this is the
type of flick that you'd enjoy or not.
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THE GIST
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If you're a fan of the original, or if you don't mind intentionally ridiculous action movies, then you should
have a lot of fun with The Transporter 2. Just make sure you're not in the mood for a really engaging
story wrapped in a blanket of realism.
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