TRANSPORTER 3 HONORS OUR DINO

Hey pallies, likes this is just so Dinogreat...just in time for Dinothanksday, a new holiday flick is opennin' today tagged "Transformer 3" and the main dude of the flick, a character tagged Frank Martin (played by Jason Stratham) declares in the flick that "the French should revere Dean Martin instead of Jerry Lewis." What a great trib to our Dino and 'nother way of bringin' more and more pallies to follow our great man. Below you will find a review of Transformer 3 written by Jan Sandberg for the Buffalo News. Thanks to Jan for includin' this stellar Dinomention in the review. As always, if you wanna read this in it's orginial form, likes just click on the tagg of this Dinopost. Pallies, likes this is one holiday flick that I have just gotta see.... Givin' Dino Thanks, DMP





11/26/08 06:41 AM
‘Transporter 3’ is more of the same
By Jan Sandberg
NEWS CONTRIBUTING REVIEWER
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Buzz up!
Noise, hostility, fighting. If Thanksgiving with the family doesn’t provide enough of those for you, “Transporter 3” is opening just in time to furnish more of the same.

That’s in keeping with the previous installments in this dumb-but-fun, over-the-top action series starring Jason Statham as Frank Martin, a ridiculously buff ex-Special Forces operative and sharp dresser in demand as an underworld driver-for-hire when a “package” needs safe delivery.

Little about Frank is explained for series newcomers, unfortunately, but those who have seen the first two films know that he has a strict set of rules: 1) no questions; 2) no names; 3) no passengers; 4) never look inside the package; 5) never change the deal; and 6) he drives his own black Audi.

Frank always ends up breaking his rules when he discovers the inevitably evil intentions of his clients — except for the one about the car, of course — or when he has no choice. Both happen in the convoluted-as-usual story (it involves toxic waste) by writers Luc Besson (the series producer, who directed “Transporter 2”) and Robert Mark Kamen.

Frank is back in Marseilles, fishing with his old buddy, Police Inspector Tarconi (Francois Berleand) . Just as Frank starts to argue that the French should revere Dean Martin instead of Jerry Lewis, the inspector gets both a fish on the hook and a call about a wild car chase in the city.

The driver, a fellow-transporter who has borrowed the Audi, ultimately crashes at Frank’s pad — literally. Badly injured, he leaves his pal with a sullen young woman, Valentina (Natalya Rudakova), who refuses to leave the car.

Frank had turned down the same job from creepy American criminal Johnson (Robert Knepper), whose thugs try to “convince” Frank to accept it.

In a confusing jump cut, Frank wakes up as Johnson’s prisoner, with no choice but to take over the job, since he and Valentina — the daughter of the Ukrainian EPA head (Dutch actor Jeroen Krabbe) — are now both outfitted with electronic bracelets that will blow them up if they wander more than 75 feet from the car.

Statham is the best thing about this franchise. One of the actors who has made balding sexy, he has a real presence that makes his quiet character compelling.

Ukrainian females seem to be “in” (“Quantum of Solace’s” Russian Bond girl is played by a Ukrainian actress), and it’s nice to see Rudakova’s wide face, red hair, freckles and blue eyes presented as sexy. However, Valentina is spoiled Eurotrash and often annoying. Frank deserves better, and Statham deserves a better series around him, but he’s still fun to watch in action.

Movie Review

“Transporter 3”

★★½

Starring Jason Statham, Natalya Rudakova and Francois Berleand.

Directed by Olivier Megaton.

100 minutes.

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action, violence, some sexual content and drug use.

Opens today in area theaters.