Luc Besson is best known for Nikita and Leon, both stylishly inventive crime films with staggeringly unimaginative names. As a director he has now turned to deeper fare such as the stories of Joan Of Arc, Macbeth, and a strange swimsuit wearing model in The Fifth Element. However The Transporter represents the latest in a growing list of B-movies, including Taxi and Kiss Of The Dragon, to feature Mr Besson in the less time consuming role of as writer-producer.
The plot is simple enough for an amoeba to understand. Jason Statham transports illegal packages in a smart looking BMW at high speed. He has three rules: no names, no questions and never open the package. For no apparent reason he breaks rule three, gets a conscience and brings down an entire criminal organization on his own.
The haphazard structure of The Transporter makes it seem entirely likely that the film started life as a drunken rant by Besson about how he could think up better car chases, shoot outs and kung fu fights than you find in your average mainstream movie without even trying. Before he'd had time to sober up someone has found finances to make a film around these sequences and a co-writer and director were duly dispatched to think up characters and plot to string the whole thing together. Meanwhile Besson grabbed some Alka Seltzer and had a good lie down.
The end result is highly enjoyable. Even if Jason Statham is barely credible as a kung fu master the action sequences are all executed with aplomb and playing spot the stunt double never fails to amuse. There are more laughs than anything Jackie Chan has done recently and more than Jet Li will ever manage in his entire career. Here's hoping Luc Besson heads back to the pub sometime soon.