Transporter 3
Release Date:
November 26, 2008
On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 27/31 |
John Seal |
Car wreck of a movie featuring...car wrecks aplenty |
| 112/196 |
Max Braden |
Statham looks good but quick cuts keep you from appreciating the moves. |
His name is Frank Martin, and he’s a driver. I’m not talking about driving like those pretenders from The Fast and Furious do. I mean, this guy can get from Point A to Point B in record time. Then, he gets out of the car, removes his jacket, and wipes the floor with a group of hired goons, all to the tune of Linkin Park’s Numb. He’s that type of driver and he has never once uttered a line of dialogue as heinous as “You’re a good driver, bro.” Up yours, Paul Walker! But I digress.
The point is that we know who Frank Martin is by now. Give him a package and he will deliver it on time…unless he happens to see it’s a hot chick, in which case he’ll rescue her from the bad guys then make her body his amusement park for a long weekend. He leads a good life.
Also, should the need arise for him to rescue the child of an ex-girlfriend whose current husband is too much of a eunuch to do it himself, Frank can do that, too. Frank can do it all. He’s a man’s man and a ladies’ man and he has the most triumphant set of leather driving gloves. I’m not going to lie. I kind of hero worship Frank Martin. Clearly, I’m not alone, either.
The Transporter earned $25.3 million against a $21 million budget before becoming a hit on home video. Its success was vastly surpassed by its sequel. The Transporter 2 made $43.1 million domestically and wound up with $79.7 million in worldwide receipts against a modest budget of $32 million. While we are not talking about Spider-Man level success, the titles have brought in a respectable $68.4 million domestically against combined production budgets of $53 million. Surprisingly, Fox was not impressed enough by the first two Transporter movies’ box office to bid on a third. For this reason, Lionsgate will take over for the third outing, as they won a bidding war the rights to distribute Transporter 3 domestically.
The story this time may feel a bit…familiar to Jason Statham fans. The tagline is simple. "This time the rules are the same, except one." What this means is that Frank Martin is given a timeline to deliver a package, but the cut-off date on this one is a bit firmer than usual. Should he fail to do so, an implant will trigger in his body that kills him instantly. Yes, this sounds exactly like Statham’s 2006 release, Crank, but I’m sure that’s just a surface similarity. What is certain is that Robert Knepper, the scene stealing T-Bag on Prison Break, has been cast as the villain in Transporter 3. Wonderfully named French director Olivier Megaton will be making his North American debut with this. (David Mumpower/BOP)
Vital statistics for Transporter 3 |
| Main Cast |
Jason Statham, Francois Berleand, Robert Knepper |
| Supporting Cast |
Jeroen Krabbé, Natalya Rudakova, Alex Kobold, David Atrakchi, Yann Sundberg, Eriq Ebouaney, David Kammenos, Silvio Simac |
| Director |
Olivier Megaton |
| Screenwriter |
Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen |
| Distributor |
Lionsgate |
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Talent in red has entry in The Big Picture |
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