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07 / 12 / 2008
Fantasy Rally: The final Fantasy Rally results are in - we have a winner! See how your team fared or see the Rally GB results.

05 / 11 / 2008
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12 / 10 / 2008
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18 / 08 / 2005
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See the rest of the reviews here.

Transporter 2

Cast: Jason Statham, Amber Valletta, Kate Nauta, Alessandro Gassman, Matthew Modine, Jason Flemyng, François Berléand. Directed by Louis Leterrier, written by Luc Besson. Story: The driver takes on more bad guys. Running Time: 1hr 27 minutes. Certificate 15.

The Transporter was a hugely underrated movie. Yes, it was daft, but it was also slick and cool. The sequel, as with most sequels, takes the trace from the original and turns up the amplitude, resulting in far greater daftness and greater slickness and coolness to boot. I liked it, but I'm afraid you won't.

Luc Besson and Louis Leterrier come together again, but this is no Unleashed. That movie felt almost real - Transporter most definitely does not. Retaining the swish jump-and-kick action and the stylish panache of the editing, Transporter 2 takes us to a fantasy world within a real worldly framework, doing away with any plausibility for the sake of action with a capital F. Yes, these are the least likely stunts since Street Hawk left our screens. More flamboyant than xXx, more unlikely than The Dukes of Hazzard, these action scenes are less believable than a Bush manifesto. However, the Besson magic has ensured that they're great fun - in fact the more absurd the stunt, the more I lapped them up. Every fibre of the movie tries to tell you that it's completely serious, but it's so far beyond probability that it comes out the other side into comedy. I laughed far more at this than I did at The Man, yet that was trying to be funny.

Jason Statham received mixed reviews from the first Transporter. I, too, was ambivalent about his performance - something seemed lacking in his screen presence for such a try-anything-and-I-won't-flinch role, though it was sufficient. Since his exposure in Snatch and Revolver, he stands up better as a cool face-smacker nowadays and this helps the overall sheen of the movie. François Berléand has magnified his role's French idiosyncrasies, so he comes over as an amiable appears-bumbling-but-is-really-very-sharp sidekick, which is something of a change from the savvy gendarme he played in the original. Amber Valletta, the rich geek-attracter in Hitch, shows a surprising amount of acting ability for an ex-supermodel - more than can be said for Irksome Twat Husband Matthew Modine, who does this for a living. Rounding off the cast, Silly Makeup Shooty Girl Kate Nauta does the best with a daft role, and Bad Italiano Dude Alessandro Gassman does nothing wrong but fails to impress in a role that a more talented actor would have torn the screen apart with. Jason Flemyng, so good in Lock Stock and Snatch, tries a foreigner role again and it doesn't really work, largely because we know him already and expect him to be a Londoner, but overall these deficiencies don't matter, as the movie is all about Statham's athletic antics. Whether or not you enjoy the film hinges purely on whether you laugh at the stunts or resignedly put your head in your hands. You know which camp you're in.

Transporter 2 will appeal to two bands of viewer. Firstly, youngsters (fans of xXx in particular) who believe the monstrously ridiculous action sequences. Secondly, adults who still enjoy silly stuff like The Dukes of Hazzard, but can't really explain why. Anyone who needs plausibility from a movie will run away screaming.

I enjoyed this film: 4/5

I think the average moviegoer will enjoy it: 2/5

Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: 3/5 Silly fighting and sillier car stunts.

To enjoy this film you should: laugh at the ludicrous parts.

Your comments

The comments printed here are not necessarily the views of Forwardcharm!

I oved the original Transporter - and although the follow up is not quite as good a yarn, its still worth a look for the Audi action and the stunts. It's a bit like the original Taxi films by Besson - Great fun action/stunt movies. I like 'em!
Wile7, Toulouse

A spot on review, it's worth seeing ... just don't analyse the technical side!!
Mike G