Jason Statham in TRANSPORTER 2 (2005).
© 20th Century Fox

Mania Grade: B+
Reviewed Format: Theatrical Release
Rated: PG-13
Stars: Jason Statham, Alessandro Gassman, Amber Valletta, Katie Nauta
Writers: Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen, based on their characters
Director: Louis Leterrier
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox

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THE TRANSPORTER 2

Jason Statham reprises his role as Frank Martin, a driver for hire who normally caters to shady types (though he seems to have become a bit more morally righteous since we last saw him). Right now, Frank is doing a change-of-pace temporary gig as bodyguard/babysitter for young Jack Billings (Hunter Clary), son of the U.S. anti-drug czar (Matthew Modine). Despite Frank's best efforts (and they're very good indeed), little Jack gets kidnapped by some baddies who have it in for Jack's daddy and his cronies. It's up to Frank to rescue Jack and then foil a deadly scheme that's as far-reaching as it is farfetched (part of the film's charm is that it knows the plan is preposterous when Frank points out its utter futility, the main villain (Alessandro Gassman) brushes this aside as irrelevant. This acknowledgement doesn't quite break the fourth wall, but it comes close. Then again, in a movie in which cars leap from one building top to another, a lone man fends off a gang armed with a non-pumping firehouse and removes a bomb from his car by well, you'll have to see the movie for that one few viewers will be looking for overarching logic.

Cory Yuen's martial arts coordination is stellar and the auto stunts devised by Michel Julienne are awe-inspiring. Even knowing that portions are augmented by CGI doesn't undercut the kinetic kick of the sequences, which go on to be much longer and more elaborate and complex than anything we might have imagined.

Statham is a fine stoic hero and Amber Valletta is appealing as Jack's gentle mother. Katie Nauta as a hit woman who loves her work, especially when she gets to carry it out in lingerie and red heels, is emblematic of the film's over-the-top screwiness.

THE TRANSPORTER 2 is sort of like what a '60s psychedelic movie would be if it had nonstop action and 2005 technology. It's totally silly but great fun.