bnorthup
10-14-2002, 01:28 PM
The Transporter (PG-13)
At the Circus
** 2 stars
Personalized delivery costs a little extra
By Brent Northup
There’s an undeniable appeal in having a job where the success or your day’s work can be definitively measured. If you fix a car, and it runs beautifully afterwards, you’ve had a good day. If you filled a pothole, and cars don’t go bump driving over it anymore, you were a success!
All my jobs have tended to be much less clear cut. Teaching, whether effective or ineffective, is just about impossible to evaluate day to day. Twenty years later, a student may thank you – and that matters! Although the ones who still think you ruined their lives are (thankfully) less apt to write.
Believe it or not, I’ve always been attracted to trucking as a road-not-taken profession. The reasons? I’m a road warrior, who likes to drive places and who appreciates the idea that delivering Package X to Customer Z is an amazingly basic and primitively satisfying job description. I could go to sleep knowing I did my job well today!
“The Transporter” is a movie about a glorified trucker, who provides personal delivery service for those “fragile-handle-with-care” packages.
Got some stolen money that needs to get to Mom? Call the Transporter. Got some drugs that need to get to a congressman for a party? Call the Transporter. Got a live female that needs to be sent somewhere? Put her in a mailing bag, and call the transporter.
The final scenario is the movie’s plot. The Transporter is hired to deliver a duffel bag, which is loaded into the trunk of his BMW. The bag wiggles. Turns out there’s a female inside.
One thing leads to another, and life gets messy for this deliveryman. In fact, his multi-million dollar mansion by the sea gets blown up with small Nukes because of this assignment. Darn, what a mess.
Sadly, all of this chaos doesn’t add up to much - lots of action, but not much to care about. The story devolves into explosions and chases.
I was hoping “The Transporter” would be a sort of “Bruce-Lee-meets-Fed-Ex” thriller.
The director, Corey Yuen, is a Hong Kong martial arts filmmaker. The producer-writer, Luc Besson, is an action movie specialist.
So who is the star Jason Statham and where’s Bruce Lee? Actually, I know where Bruce Lee is – he’s buried in Seattle and I’ve visited the grave. I miss him.
File this one under lost opportunities.
END
At the Circus
** 2 stars
Personalized delivery costs a little extra
By Brent Northup
There’s an undeniable appeal in having a job where the success or your day’s work can be definitively measured. If you fix a car, and it runs beautifully afterwards, you’ve had a good day. If you filled a pothole, and cars don’t go bump driving over it anymore, you were a success!
All my jobs have tended to be much less clear cut. Teaching, whether effective or ineffective, is just about impossible to evaluate day to day. Twenty years later, a student may thank you – and that matters! Although the ones who still think you ruined their lives are (thankfully) less apt to write.
Believe it or not, I’ve always been attracted to trucking as a road-not-taken profession. The reasons? I’m a road warrior, who likes to drive places and who appreciates the idea that delivering Package X to Customer Z is an amazingly basic and primitively satisfying job description. I could go to sleep knowing I did my job well today!
“The Transporter” is a movie about a glorified trucker, who provides personal delivery service for those “fragile-handle-with-care” packages.
Got some stolen money that needs to get to Mom? Call the Transporter. Got some drugs that need to get to a congressman for a party? Call the Transporter. Got a live female that needs to be sent somewhere? Put her in a mailing bag, and call the transporter.
The final scenario is the movie’s plot. The Transporter is hired to deliver a duffel bag, which is loaded into the trunk of his BMW. The bag wiggles. Turns out there’s a female inside.
One thing leads to another, and life gets messy for this deliveryman. In fact, his multi-million dollar mansion by the sea gets blown up with small Nukes because of this assignment. Darn, what a mess.
Sadly, all of this chaos doesn’t add up to much - lots of action, but not much to care about. The story devolves into explosions and chases.
I was hoping “The Transporter” would be a sort of “Bruce-Lee-meets-Fed-Ex” thriller.
The director, Corey Yuen, is a Hong Kong martial arts filmmaker. The producer-writer, Luc Besson, is an action movie specialist.
So who is the star Jason Statham and where’s Bruce Lee? Actually, I know where Bruce Lee is – he’s buried in Seattle and I’ve visited the grave. I miss him.
File this one under lost opportunities.
END