TRANSPORTER 3 (2008)

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"Transporter 3" is a huge disappointment."

"Transporter 3" is a bad follow up to two great films. I really enjoyed the first and thought the second was excellent but anyway this is the third installment and I was incredibly disappointed. I really thought I was going to like this but in the end it will leave you wanting more.

The film starts out with two workers on a boat trying to get alcohol but what they think is alcohol turns out to be a deadly poison or gas. I am not really sure what it is because they never explain it in detail. Then they jump to Frank [The Transporter] at his home. He is just resting for the night when a car crashes through the wall of his house. There are two people in the car, one is injured and there is also a woman in the back. Frank calls an ambulance and when they get there they put the man in the truck. But when they start to drive away the ambulance mysteriously blows up. He goes back to get the woman but he is then knocked out. Frank wakes up with a bracelet on his hand. This is where the absurdity begins.

If he goes more than 75 feet from the car then he blows up just like the other man did. He must take the woman, the daughter of a Ukranian official, to the places he is told to take her to by the villain. Before it is over they fall in love and Frank actually starts to care for her. Now it is not the action sequences that make the movie bad but it is the horrible acting by the actress playing Valentina and the poor story.

So on to the story. The plot is bad and not explained enough to know what is going on other than watch mindless action scenes. You never really know what the villains motive is or why he wants Frank to transport Valentina. The screenwriters have come up with terrible dialogue and bad ways to show Frank and Valentina fall in love. All the scenes with them together are totally unbelievable thanks to the bad acting by Natalya Rudakova but I will get to that later.

The acting is the worst thing here. Jason Statham does his normal schick returning to the role that he has played well in the past two films. But he is not the problem here. Natalya Rudakova playing Valentina is the issue. Her accent makes her hard to understand. In addition her scenes with Jason Statham have little chemistry. I think they should have found another leading lady or just cut most of her scenes out. Robert Knepper is a very good bad guy. He has experience playing one of the villains on Prison Break and he is great here too. He does a good job with the role but some of the stuff he does is pretty dumb and unbelievable. For instance, at the end he actually puts up a fight against Frank when I am sure Frank would probably beat the crap out of him anytime.

The director is Olivier Megaton. He takes over for Louis Leterrier who I am sure is happy he skipped this job and did The Incredible Hulk. But the action sequences are directed with style even though they are totally unrealistic they are still fun. So that leads me to the visuals which are good but not great. The actual car chases look real but the stuff with the train looks way too CGI associated.

So overall this is a disappointing third installment that is brought down by some horrible acting and a poorly written script. If you're a fan then skip this in theaters but rent it so you don't waste your time and money when you could be watching some other good movies out there right now.