Driving us into a futile frenzy

Transporter 3
Cast: Jason Statham, Francois Berleand
Director: Oliver Megaton
Rating: *1/2

The third edition of the action series with Jason Statham as Frank a pugnacious British driver whose driving skills defies all laws of physics, Transporter 3 is all action and mayhem embedded in incoherence.

Director Olivier Megaton intentions are clear right from the onset. You are not expected to make sense of what is happening, just sit back, fasten your seatbelts, and tag along for the high-risk ride.

Johnson coerces Frank Martin into driving a “package” in his black Mercedes from Marseilles to a series of unknown locations, guided by a cell-phone and a GPS device. Martin has a bracelet on his wrist that will cause him to explode if he wanders more than a short distance from the driver’s seat.

And he also has orange haired Valentina for company. The action is out-of-this-world stuff. The car stunts are simply unbelievable and can be attributed to CGI and stunt photography, rather than real-time action.

Frank is a one-man-army pitted against numerous foes and needless to say he defeats them all. Megaton’s narrative fails to do justice to Corey Yuan’s choreography. Even the set-piece that involves Frank using his clothing to fight his enemies does not register as real.

There’s no doubt that the story and screenplay by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kammen was developed to accommodate the set-pieces and not vice-versa. Venture into this one only if you are a die-hard Jason Statham fan.