Review: With all its flaws, I loved the first TRANSPORTER film. It was a wild ride that did not take itself too seriously and contained some truly imaginative fight sequences. Jason Statham really was born into an action hero after its release, bringing back the tough guy charisma that has been missing in Hollywood action films since the days of Willis, Stallone, and Schwarzenegger. But TRANSPORTER 2 is very much a different film even with all its returning participants. If the first outing was considered “fun,” then the best remark for the sequel would be “unbelievable.” Though, I tend to have my tongue firmly in cheek when I say this.

TRANSPORTER 2 begins with Frank Martin, sitting in his car in a parking lot as he waits to complete his current assignment. Unfortunately for him, a few car thieves decide to put a gun to his head and attempt to steal his vehicle. A fight ensues and our favorite driver walks away without a scratch as our jaws are dropping at the intricately choreographed scene we’ve just witnessed. A lot of TRANSPORTER 2’s action is a lot like this; they’re amazingly inventive and contain many pulse pounding scenes of good looking mayhem. However, the trouble in cinematic paradise is a lot of them are truly unrealistic and completely unconvincing. On top of that, the story is full of clichés and the acting is awful and, oftentimes, unwatchable. Yet, as an audience, we’re busting a gut laughing and screaming for more! Is this a case of style over substance or exciting filmmaking in its purest form?

When it all comes down to it, it goes back to Jason Statham. He is such a captivating presence on the screen that he can do anything and you’ll just love it. From jumping from parking lot rooftops to surviving plane crashes or even spinning his car in mid air just to loosen the bomb underneath his car using a nearby crane hook and being able to land upright and drive away from the explosion is a true testament to his silver screen charm. I wouldn’t be surprised to see in the third installment Statham jumping out of a burning hospital with a baby in his arms double fisting magnums and popping bullets into sword wielding yakuzas. Though, the hand to hand combat is TRANSPORTER 2 seriously no joke and there are plenty of scenes of Statham’s agility in remarkable form.

The rest of TRANSPORTER 2 consists of horrible Mathew Modine melodrama, some Amber Valetta crying, and many gratuitous see-through bikini shots of Kate Nauta’s character, Lola. It almost seems like they traded Shi Qu’s character of the first film for a handful of slightly less annoying supporting characters and thus leading us back to the initial problem of casting. I’m pretty sure the writing has a lot to do with it as well.

Director Louis Leterrier impressed us with Jet Li’s latest, UNLEASHED (DANNY THE DOG), and it is terribly hard to imagine that he would follow up such an intense film with one as silly as TRANSPORTER 2. Perhaps that is a testament to his directing, versatile and unhinged. Though, Corey Yuen saved the day with his ingenuity and masterful fight choreography. But we all know the man with the master plan, the auteur behind the scenes is really Luc Besson and his smug, smug smile holding the puppet strings of everyone involved. For in the end, everything about TRANSPORTER 2 bleeds of Besson ingenuity: overused storylines, kickass fight scenes and over the top entertainment.

Heck, two out of three ain’t bad at all.