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Transporter 3
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 25 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Action
Written by:
Luc Besson
Robert Mark Kamen
Directed by: Olivier Megaton
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 26, 2008
Running Time: 100 minutes, Color
Origin: France
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence, some sexual content and drug material
Starring Jason Statham, Francois Berleand, Natalya Rudakova, Robert Knepper, Jeroen Krabbe, Alex Kobold, David Atrakchi, and Yann Sundberg
Frank Martin has been pressured into transporting Valentina, the kidnapped daughter of Leonid Vasilev, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency for the Ukraine, from Marseilles through Stuttgart and Budapest until he ends up in Odessa on the Black Sea. Along the way, with the help of Inspector Tarconi, Frank has to contend with the people who strong armed him to take the job, agents sent by Vasilev to intercept him, and the general non-cooperation of his passenger. Despite Valentina’s cynical disposition and his resistance to get involved, Frank and Valentina fall for each other, while escaping from one life-threatening situation after another. (Lionsgate)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: The Transporter The Transporter 2
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
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...
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Statham isn't an actor who coasts, not even in a recklessly enjoyable picture like Transporter 3. He does the work, so we don't have to: His Frank Martin is the personification of pleasure without guilt.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The villainous Polluter-in-Chief is eloquently played by Robert Knepper, familiarly loathsome as T-Bag on Fox's "Prison Break." And when Knepper and Statham get together, there's a fine showdown of grimaces.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
What makes it all work is that Frank remains a self-made hero.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Mike Mayo
Overall, the production has the polish and pace that producer/co-writer Luc Besson's work is known for. Any complaints about the lack of substance are pointless.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
The end result is "Mission: Impossible" meets "Speed": high-tech gizmos, exotic European locales, and hair-raising stunts, many performed by Statham himself, who, when he's not shirtless, looks spiffy in Dior.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
In a series elevated by high-flying ridiculousness, Transporter 3 falls a couple of sequences short of the standard, but it does show off Statham's considerable dirt-biking skills. For that, at least, it's kinda rad.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Jeremy Wheeler
Though this third installment is not quite as nuts as the second film, it's nevertheless firmly set in the same ridiculous mold.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Christopher Borrelli
The best sequences involve Frank's inventive ability to stay within 75 feet of his car, but otherwise, it's the charismatic unruffled dexterity in the face of impossible odds that rivets.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
Though the car chases have grown more banal as the franchise has started to run on fumes, the smackdowns have retained their zing.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
As action movies seem to get more complicated and convoluted with international conspiracies and technological concepts, the "Transporter" franchise is refreshingly simple.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Transporter 3 is so far over the top that it more than once spills into outright cartoonishness.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
If you're going to a no-frills action film, though, at least you want the action to be entertaining, which is where Transporter 3 falls down.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Somehow Statham comes out of this improbable thriller with his dignity intact.
Read Full Review >Variety John Anderson
Boasts a measure of the retro machismo, style and attitude some 007 fans have found lacking in "Quantum of Solace." But it also has a pointless storyline, incoherent editing and a polyglot cast that renders some of the dialogue utterly incomprehensible.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Transporter 3 is the most frustrating entry into a series that has never set the bar terribly high.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
For those disappointed in the grim, gritty feel of the latest James Bond movie and who long for the absurdity of the Roger Moore-era entries, Transporter 3, ought to fit the bill.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Jim Ridley
The movie has more lags in action than either of the previous episodes, and somehow the dialogue is even more daft
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Statham could do these movies in his sleep by now, so he gets credit for offering up so much dry wit. In fact, while Rudakova makes a painful acting debut, Statham appears more engaged than he has in a while.
Read Full Review >Empire Chris Hewitt
Incoherent and inconsistent, this is a step back for Statham in his quest to become more than a cult figure.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Michael Ferraro
The film does contain a couple of interesting thrills here and there. However, this film would have been better off thrown straight to DVD.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
Transporter 3 is made for airplane viewing, and not just any airplane: an Eastern European one, on the flight from Hrubbishnik to Slutnya.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer David Hiltbrand
At one point, Statham chases down a sports car while pedaling madly on a kids' bike. Pathétique!
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
The thrill of the ridiculousness is gone. So is all the mystery that made Statham so appealing in the first place.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
Easily the worst in a trilogy that has been notable mainly for the presence of its everyman action star, Transporter 3 is a nonsensical, choppily edited bore, with awful dialogue.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
The fight scenes are lackluster and the plot is needlessly complicated. If you're making an action film that centers on fast cars and fast women, it's usually best to keep the rest of the story simple.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 5.7 (out of 10) based on 25 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Kendall B gave it a10:
The accent from Rudakova was great addition to the movie and coupled with Statham's fighting Transporter 3 deserves a great review.
Ursela B gave it a6:
Why is everyone distorting this films atleast passable action entertainment? Its not the grime like many horror flicks, it deserves atleast a one watch - I shockingly admit I was not in any interest in its prequels, having seen the second I did not enjoy it, yet I liked this one seeing it as requiring no depth, its action and flow is still logical for entertainment purposes. critics stuck this one right inbetween though, right where it belongs, in the middle.
Freeb F gave it an8:
"The best action movie in 2008, "Transporter 3" takes the action to the extreme, and shows off Jason Statham's "chops" in a way that Schwartzenegger or Stallone never could. Jason's turn last year in the critically acclaimed period drama, "The Bank Job, " hasn't kept him from flexing his muscles in this latest film."
Don M. gave it a1:
Watching this movie in a theatre was one of the few times I've experienced the urge to get up and leave half an hour into the feature. I wasn't alone on this; a few people in the theatre actually left, and the friend of mine who came with me had leaned over and said "hey man, we should just go and play Forza or something". I'm as big a Jason Statham fan as the next guy, but this was just plain BAD. A reviewer had said the plot was "needlessly complicated?" That's insane. If anything, some complexity could have turned this movie from bargain bin to 2/$25. The 'villian', who was somewhat overacted by Robert Knepper, wasn't clever. At all. This should be a crime. The 'love interest', who was incredibly and sulkily underacted by Natalya Rudakova, wasn't even cleverly vapid, but just plain stupid. The entire time I was watching the "sexually tense" interactions between Statham and Rudakova, I felt like i was watching a thirteen year old hit on her dad. On top of that, her character's shallowness was only overshadowed by how poorly the role was acted. (She also suffers from a strange condition in which she's not overly attractive until she puts on her "i want to S your D" face.) It would have also been in the best interests of the writers to not attempt to invent a new James Bond. Frank Martin's line of work and personality are apt for him to, ironically, never have a real personality. The role works as a steeped-in-mystery-with-no-personal-details affair, but he shows too much weakness all of a sudden for this movie to work well. It was such a boring, contrived shell of what could have been something somewhat compelling, even if it IS 'just an action movie'. As the ending drew near and the plot became more and more transparent and predictable, I still rolled my eyes at the "saved by inflating a dufflebag with tire air underwater" and "jump an Audi S6 onto the roof of a moving traincar." I gave it a 1/10 simply because even though the Tarconi character was as badly scripted as the rest, François Berléand is still funny by default (except the line "Russians.. they're always so dark."This made me want to destroy the one person in the theatre who laughed at it).
Oliver H. gave it a2:
This is one of the worst films I've ever seen. I went because of the relatively high metacritic rating, but it is an absolute stinker. In my opinion, anyone who loved the original will detest this third installment. I would go into detail about which aspects of the film were the least pleasing, but there simply is nothing to compliment regarding this "work". Please do yourself a favor, and avoid this movie at all costs.
k l gave it a0:
Terrible. stopped watching after 20 mins.
Chavo G. gave it a10:
Pure gold.
