Kathmandu

Gang fights and human trafficking for prostitution is not a new theme for Hollywood action thriller.

But The Transporter Refueled brings in something new — the victims of human trafficking plan and execute revenge. Anna (Loan Chabanol), Gina (Gabriella Wright), Maria (Tatjana Pajkovic) and Qiao (Wenxia Yu) are on a mission to take revenge on Karasov (Radivoje Bukvic) and his gang members responsible for the trafficking. They take help of Frank Martin (Ed Skrein) — The Transporter — who not only transports the ladies but later is involved with these girls’ mission as his father is kidnapped by Karasov.

In the beginning Karasov and his gang are seen capturing a brothel killing everyone working there and replacing them with his girls. Anna is one of the workers who has terror writ on her face and Karasov commands her to smile. This is where she is introduced to the audience as someone who is meek and vulnerable.

Then 15 years later this Anna is no longer the same, she is confident sitting in a restaurant talking to someone on the cellphone. Showing the transformation, a brief one, would have helped the story line. It’s also not clear how these four girls escaped from Karasov’s web and how they got together to execute their master plan. Though the whole film is based on their revenge and the motive of all the four is clear, it still feels the whole movie watching experience is sans substance. This makes you bored despite the full-on chase and action scenes. Some chase scenes are similar to that of video games, which have been overly abused, and will drop your enthusiasm to watch the movie further. Nevertheless, there are a few action sequences that are quite interesting like when Frank rescues his father Frank Sr (Ray Stevenson) and Maria from a moving plane on the runway with the help of his sleek vehicle. This and some other chases are gripping, but that’s about it.

The background score gels well with the scene. However, this doesn’t do the trick as the story is predictable and Skrein as Frank does not look natural — his facial expression is always tough and full of anger even in romantic moments. So replacing Jason Statham can never be good! However, Stevenson as the father and the man of humour is charming and has acted naturally and so have Chabanol and Pajkovic.

The Transporter fourth franchise is not worth your time or money. Thinking about it now — perhaps it was good Statham was replaced.

The Transporter Refueled

Genre: Action Thriller

Director: Camille Delamarre

Cast: Ed Skrein, Ray Stevenson, Loan Chabanol, Noemie Lenoir, Gabriella Wright, Wenxia Yu

Being screened at QFX Cinemas