Review: The Transporter Refueled BD + Screen Caps

THE MOVIE – 1.75/5

For this site, I’ve come across numerous titles where one wonders why such a movie even exists. The Marine 2-4 and 12 Rounds 2-3 are such examples and now there’s The Transporter Refueled, a quasi-reboot where the studio decided to continue this tired franchise, which already spun a television series, without its star. This entry is soulless and surprisingly grueling to sit through in spite of a reasonable 90-minute running time (sans credits). I’m not saying Statham would made Refueled any better especially considering The Transporter 3 was no action masterpiece, but I think I would found it far more tolerable.

The Transporter Refueled opens in the year 1995 and a 12-year-old girl named Anna (LOAN CHABANOL) has been sold into slavery by nefarious goon and pimp, Arkady (RADIVOJE BUKVIC). 15 years later, which means for some odd reason, this film takes place in 2010, we are re-introduced to Frank Martin (ED SKREIN) who still has his strict rules. He also doesn’t appreciate anyone messing with his precious Audi. The 2015 model.

In any case, he accepts the job of transporting a now grown up Anna, although she doesn’t look any older, and two pieces of cargo, though unbeknownst to Martin, its two additional ladies who have just robbed a bank deposit belonging Arkady who has accumulated more power in Paris since he shot up onto the scene in ’95 and has numerous women prostituting.

Since Anna breaks one of his rules, changing their arrangement, Frank is set to walk away but they throw a wild card: she has kidnapped Frank’s father, Frank Sr. (RAY STEVENSON), and threatens to kill him if Frank Jr. doesn’t complete the task, meaning evading the police and causing the crash of copious number of cars and creating headaches for insurance agents all around France.

And that’s really the basic plot. Lots of car chases that double as advertising for Audi and using new technology despite taking place in ’10, which is such an arbitrary year as it has no bearing on the franchise since Refueled is supposed to be a reboot anyway; not sure why the epilogue couldn’t have been set in 2000… But I digress, the odd timeline, and the fact nobody aged over the course of those 15 years, is a minor fault to a film that lacked a basic soul.

The Transporter Refueled, unlike its predecessors which certainly were dumb, at least had some entertainment value and add to that, Jason Statham is just a kick-ass hero and when you go from Statham to Ed Skrein, it’s a major downgrade. Skrein lacks the charisma for the role and his fight scenes were anything but fun or thrilling. However, those sequences weren’t helped by poor direction by Camille Delamarre who previously helmed Brick Mansions, which was produced and written by Luc Besson and explains how he got this job.

The acting by the supporting cast is nothing special, however Loan Chabanol wasn’t terrible and seemed to be trying and the always charismatic Ray Stevenson is great if not vastly underutilized. Heck, I kind of wish he starred instead of Skrein, at least it would’ve made for a tolerable experience. Not good, mind you, but tolerable.

In the end, The Transporter Refueled is a complete misfire from the casting, save for Stevenson, writing and direction and although its predecessors were hardly great action flicks, with Jason Statham they were at least moderately entertaining in its stupidity. This one is just plain stupid with no payoff and at times an utter chore to sit through.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.0/5

Frank Martin: The Reluctant Hero (9:18; HD) is a profile on the character as portrayed by Ed Skrein with some behind-the-scenes footage and on-location interviews with the cast and crew.

The Coeur Brisé: Les Femmes of Refueled (5:32; HD) looks at the female characters in the film.

Rocketing from 0-60 (5:40; HD) delves into the stunt car chases and sequences.

Note: This release at few select stores does come with a slip cover but generally, even ones shipped by Fox, did not.

VIDEO – 4.5/5

AUDIO – 4.25/5

Although it would seem a movie like this was made for Atmos, I suppose they went the 2010 route with a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio track. For the most part it sounds fine with crisp and clear dialogue levels while the track comes to life thanks to the various car chases, crashes, gunplay and other action-centric scenes. It’s not the most vibrant lossless track but serves its purpose rather well.

OVERALL – 2.0/5

Overall, there’s really no reason for The Transporter Refueled to exist, let alone one without Jason Statham starring. The writing is bad, the action sequences weren’t well directed and came across more as a commercial for Audi, and the performance from Ed Skrein does not make for a fun or kick ass action hero. The Blu-ray released by Fox offers good video/audio transfers but only some basic bonus features.

Published: 12/22/2015