"Transporter Refueled" is the perfect way to reboot the series. It's mindless entertainment with enough thrills and story to make the time pass painlessly, especially if you're an action flick junkie. British actor Ed Skrein takes over the role of Frank Martin, a tough guy whose job consists of transporting packages in his teched-out Audi. Jason Statham created the role, which was tailor-made to his particular brand of acting: monosyllabic, suave and threatening. Skrein gets the first part, but is lacking in the other two areas. Luckily the filmmakers give Frank a dad to help him out. Frank Senior is a roguish charmer who says he's an Evian sales rep but is actually some kind of retired spy. Ray Stevenson seems to be enjoying himself, playing the dad with a jaunty twinkle in his eye and enough personality to make up for Skrein's lack of one.
The plot involves four young women who target their pimp (a Russian mobster), who forced them into prostitution fifteen years earlier. However convoluted the plot may be (and it is), it allows Frank to engage in hands-on combat and high-speed car chases. Director Camille Delamarre is successful most of the time, with a couple of great sequences: an escape in an airport with Frank's Audi flying through the air and wending its way through a crowded terminal. Even better is a battle in which Frank knocks around the bad guys by opening and closing file cabinets. This is the kind of inventive choreography that you see in Jackie Chan's earlier movies. "Transporter Refueled" leaves a door open for a sequel, but I'll see it only if Frank Senior has a major role.
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