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Transporter, The
20th Century Fox Film Corporation


6.7

based on 27 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 39 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for violent sequences and some sensuality

Starring Jason Statham, Qi Shu, Matt Schulze, François Berléand, Ric Young, Doug Rand, and Didier Saint Melin

Dangerous complications ensue when a former U.S. Special Forces soldier-turned expatriate mercenary is hired to kidnap the feisty daughter of a lethal Chinese cook who's smuggling his fellow countrymen into France.

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Luc Besson Robert Mark Kamen
DIRECTED BY:	Louis Leterrier Corey Yuen
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 15, 2003 Video: April 15, 2003 Theatrical: October 11, 2002
RUNNING TIME:	92 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	France

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

The best movie Steven Seagal never made. Except that Statham, while just as marked for death, is harder to kill.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

A blending of international film sensibilities -- France meets Hollywood meets Hong Kong -- with a very cool anti-hero protagonist.

LA Weekly John Patterson

Immensely exciting and funny.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

A poke in the adrenal gland -- obeys the first law of action movie-making by quickening the heart and dazzling the eye.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Kinetic, meaningless and fun.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A thoroughly satisfying mix of mayhem and mindless fun.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

There's plenty to like here, especially for connoisseurs of the action genre, and there's also plenty to make you wonder whether Besson and co-writer Robert Mark Kamen scribbled their screenplay on a batch of Marseilles cocktail napkins and then lost one or two.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Ray Conlogue

This is a film where there isn't the slightest doubt about the dramatic outcome. But the marketing will be a cliffhanger.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

This balls-to-the-walls action/adventure makes the average James Bond film look like something by Eric Rohmer. It’s high rent Steven Segal - fights, explosions, and more fights, but with a flair.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Cut above this genre's usual industrial sludge, even when the chops and kicks are too fast to follow.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Too much action brings the movie to a dead standstill. Why don't directors understand that? Why don't they know that wall-to-wall action makes a movie less interesting -- less like drama, more like a repetitive video game?

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

The plot doesn't rate as high as the quality of the bodies in fast, furious motion. What counts in The Transporter isn't the wafer-thin story about smugglers -- it's the way Martin kicks open a door, fends off a couple of axes and uses a perfectly ordinary sport shirt as a weapon.

Dallas Observer Andy Klein

What's most disappointing is the almost utter lack of humor -- In the mindless action sweepstakes, however, there's still enough here to place The Transporter above big-bang gibberish like XXX.

Chicago Reader Hank Sartin

Entertaining but forgettable action flick.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Will Statham make it as an action hero? Hard to say. His personality makes Vin Diesel look positively debonair.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Sadly, the last 40-odd minutes are essentially one fight, pushed to the point of absurdity.

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

Muddles through as a film so uninterested in character, it doesn't bother assigning names to them.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

A slick, sexy little package with fast cars, big explosions, dazzling locations in the south of France, a trip-hop score, and about as much plot to fill a thimble.

Miami Herald Keith Cassidy

Sreams its devotion to style over substance with slick action sequences, fast cars and breathtaking stunts.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Another big, dumb action movie in the vein of "XXX," The Transporter is riddled with plot holes big enough for its titular hero to drive his sleek black BMW through.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

If anything, The Transporter isn't ludicrous enough; only one scene (a hand-to-hand showdown in the middle of an oil slick) reaches the inspired, delirious comic heights of the best Hong Kong movies.

Variety Todd McCarthy

So second-hand and disposable is it in every respect.

The New York Times Dave Kehr

American audiences will probably find it familiar and insufficiently cathartic.

Entertainment Weekly Bruce Fretts

It's like the worst movie Jean-Claude Van Damme never made.

Village Voice Justine Elias

Kills time between car chases and martial-arts bouts with random scuba-diving footage apparently culled from producer–co-writer Luc Besson's "The Big Blue."

TV Guide Steve Simels

It takes perverse genius to make an action film this stupid.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

That the movie becomes silly isn't necessarily a problem, but it also becomes tiresome, degenerating into a series of martial arts interludes -- everyone unaccountably leaves his guns at home.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.7 (out of 10) based on 39 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

KD S. gave it an8:
The Transporter series of films are a tongue-in-cheek take on the stereotypical action/thriller genre. The action equivalent to horrors "Scary Movie" series. The films are fast paced, over the top and extravagant throughout. Statham is serious at all times and doesn't let on to the fact that he is playing an archetypal action hero, ignorant to the immensely ridiculous nature of his actions, which gives the film a much deeper and darker sense of humor. The films highlight the absurd nature of action films by excessively exaggerating every element that make up the action genre to a point of obvious mockery. Many of the famous action scenes that have graced cinema screens are copied and ridiculed in this excessively exaggerated way.

[Anonymous] gave it a7:
This B-movie has action to offer, but due to the disjointed plot, is an entertaining but vaguely unmemorable experience.

Mitchell F. gave it an8:
Fantastic. Although the story is all over the place, that fighting makes up for it. The soundtrack was wonderful, made the movie what it is!

Mountain Boy gave it a7:
I think the fights and car chases were excellent. The story wasn't too bad but some parts were mediocre (saw that word recently and just wanted to use it LOL) Apart from that it wasn't bad- couldve been better. I think they were relying heavily on the action scenes to carry the film. Jason has a lot more potential. Does anyone know what style of martial arts he does? if so can you let me know?

David gave it a 1:
The movie completely lacks substance. The storyline is nonexistant. In addition, the music is completely out of tune with what is happening on the screen. Horrible acting and utterly ridiculous fight scenes make a outdated Jackie Chan movie a better choice.

Nameless one gave it a 6:
Great fighting and car chase scenes. The plot was paper-thin, but as a raw adrenaline flick, it didn't need too much of a storyline.

Jack gave it a 6:
Cool stunts.

Transporter, The 20th Century Fox Film Corporation

Transporter, The
20th Century Fox Film Corporation