October 12, 2002 -- "The Transporter" is a high-energy action film that is short on plot, but long on well-staged fights, car chases and other stunts. It moves along so fast you forget about the holes in the plot. It is one of the best action films in several years.

Jason Statham of "The One" stars as Frank Martin, a guy who specializes in high-speed, dangerous deliveries. The film starts with him driving the getaway car in a bank heist. The initial scene establishes Martin as an anal-retentive perfectionist who refuses to start driving until the load is lightened from four men to three. It is a running joke through the movie. Martin has strict rules about how he conducts his business. He always sticks to the original deal, he never looks inside the package he is delivering, he never learns the names of those he is dealing with, and he is always on time. With him, everything is always neat, precise and clean.

One day Martin gets a job delivering a package and he breaks the rules. Inside the package is a pretty girl named Lai (played by Shu Qi, who has appeared in 41 Asian films in the past six years). He looks in the package, which leads to breaking another rule. He fights with a couple of cops and this results in him being late for the delivery. After some trouble, he makes the delivery. A man named Wall Street takes delivery of the package, and immediately suspects Martin has looked inside the package. He tries to kill Martin, but fails. Martin returns to seek vengeance on Wall Street, but ends up on the run with Lai.

The rest of the movie involves various Wall Street thugs (there seems to be an unending supply of them) attacking Martin and Lai. Eventually, the plot rolls around to a smuggling operation. Another key character is Tarconi (played by veteran French actor François Berleand), a local police detective who knows about Martin’s illegal activities, but is unable to prove anything. He respects Martin and appreciates the fact that Martin does not cause trouble in his jurisdiction (the story is set in France).

The acting in the film is minimal and the plot is full of holes. There is little or no motivation for the characters to behave as they do. There is no character development to speak of. Those deficiencies don't matter in this kind of film if the rest of the film is well-constructed. The strength of this film is in its non-stop, fast-paced action. There are spectacular stunt driving sequences, hard-hitting fight scenes, lots of explosions, an Indiana Jones-like fight on a moving truck, and even some underwater scenes. One innovative fight is staged on an oil-slickened floor. Director Corey Yuen, an actor, director, and stunt coordinator in many Hong Kong films, does a great job of choreographing the numerous high-energy stunt scenes. The editing, by Nicolas Trembasiewicz is crisp and the cinematography by Pierre Morel is sharp as well. This is not a film that bears much reflection, but it is a great popcorn film. It rates a B.

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