Wayne Made Me Watch Them Both...Twice

This week’s non-new review is a two-fer; two movies, two cars, one actor, and one plot. But if you or your someone go for tough guy movies, then this is the duet for you.

The Transporter (2002)

Transporter 2 (2005)

Transporter stars a BMW 750i E38, (per IMDB, the only one ever produced with a manual six-speed gearbox). I found it to be shiny and black. Transporter 2 stars an Audi A8L W12, also shiny and black. In a supporting role for both movies is Jason Statham as Frank Martin, The Transporter; I found him to be shiny and white, his head that is. But this bodacious, ballsy, baritone makes bald beautiful.

In the 1st movie the damsel in distress is a beautiful Asian girl with an oppressive father. In the 2nd movie the damsel is a beautiful Anglo girl with an oppressive husband(Matthew Modine). No matter, ex-Special Forces operative Frank Martin and his car to the rescue. But Frank has a set of policies before he’ll take a job, and the 1st rule is; when you break a rule it makes a better movie. So it is Frank’s soft spot for a pretty girl, in the first movie and a cute kid with a hot mom in the second movie that provides the stimulus for him to deviate from his self imposed regulations.

Quick synopsis of both movies: Ultra cool guy gets hired to do a job. Rules are broken and job goes awry. Fight….Chase….Smoldering Stare…..Fight…Chase….Death Defying Car Stunts ad nauseam, and there you have it. Both movies are fast paced, and the few slow parts are used to advance the story. While the writing is nothing to write home about, the action and special effects in both films are really good. Some of the fight scenes are as choppy as a syncronized swim meet though, but then Jason takes his shirt off and your like; OH! OK! And there is a truck chase/fight scene, in the first movie, reminiscent of a scene in Raiders of the Lost Arc; only here we are fighting the Chinese Mafia instead of the Nazis.

Both movies were written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen and directed by Louis Leterrier. Two time side-kick Tarconi, is played by Francois Berleand while Qi Shu is Lai the hottie de jour in Tran 1 and Amber Valletta is Audrey the MILF in Tran 2. Completing the cast in both movies are some requisite colorful villains and their over the top mad assistants. Look for the Milla Jovovich wanna be,(Kate Nauta) in the 2nd movie, she's a nasty little thing. There were a few other cars, but nothing worth mentioning.

And yes, there is a Transporter 3 in the works; the release date is set for November 26th 2008. Here’s a sneak peak at the preview, which should give you a pretty good idea of what one and two are like. So, you can look at the cars or you can look at Jason, either way you'll have fun watching Transporter 1 and 2.