Movie Review – Latest film in series predictable, offensive

By Audrey Werth/tr news editor

If you don’t wish to leave the theater thinking the art of storytelling is dead, don’t go see The Transporter Refueled.

It is the fourth movie in a French series directed by Camille Delamarre. For anyone unfamiliar with the series, the latest film gives no compelling reason to watch the others.

Ed Skrein portrays Frank Martin in the latest film in The Transporter series.Photos by Photo courtesy EuropaCorp USA
Ed Skrein portrays Frank Martin in the latest film in The Transporter series.
Photos by Photo courtesy EuropaCorp USA

The dialogue and action is very stunted and always predictable. Every plot twist is cliched — like coercing the main character into doing something by making him believe his father has been poisoned. Of course, only the criminal with the poison could cure him with an antidote.

The film centers around former special-ops agent Frank Martin (Ed Skrein), affectionately called Junior by his father who is also an ex-spy. Martin is contracted by a team of women to be their getaway driver. Having no scruples, Martin prefers not to ask what their plan is and soon gets in way deeper than he had intended.

The women are out for revenge against their former boss, a Russian kingpin who brought them to Monaco as prostitutes from their home country of Estonia.

The movie details their revenge plot with several accounts of kidnapping just to keep things moving along.

Throughout the film, attempts were made to add depth to the characters, but there is not much justification for anyone’s actions. One minute, Martin and Ana, the predominant female character, are at odds because he is forced to collaborate with them when suddenly they begin flirting vivaciously.

It should come as no surprise that the female characters in this film were all highly sexualized with little more to their personalities than an insatiable desire to please men.

The dialogue was offensive and ignorant of the rich cultures and lives of women, Estonians and Russians.

The only way to save this movie would have been to market it as a parody. Then viewers could at least get a laugh out of it.