SYNOPSIS: Frank Martin (played by newcomer Ed Skrein), a former special-ops mercenary, is now living a less perilous life - or so he thinks - transporting classified packages for questionable people. When Frank’s father (Ray Stevenson) pays him a visit in the south of France, their father-son bonding weekend takes a turn for the worse when Frank is engaged by a cunning femme-fatale, Anna (Loan Chabanol), and her three seductive sidekicks to orchestrate the bank heist of the century. Frank must use his covert expertise and knowledge of fast cars, fast driving and fast women to outrun a sinister Russian kingpin, and worse than that, he is thrust into a dangerous game of chess with a team of gorgeous women out for revenge.
From the producers of LUCY and the TAKEN trilogy, THE TRANSPORTER REFUELED is a fresh personification of the iconic role of Frank Martin, that launches the high-octane franchise into the present-day and introduces it to the next generation of thrill-seekers

REVIEW: Audiences pretty much know what to expect from a Transporter flick by now: close-quarters hand-to-hand combat, flashy European-styling cars and lots of attractive women. Likewise, what one would also usually expect is Jason Statham gravely-growling and scowling his way through the entire play-time. Well, things have changed for this reboot. Camille Delamarre (Brick Mansions, 2014) is directing this one, working from a script handled by producer Luc Besson. With this Besson-lead release, Ed Skrein steps into Jason Statham's signature role in this latest installment of the Transporter action franchise, to add his two-cents to the mix. He does his level best to act like and even talk in a manner that Statham has pretty much patented, in the previous iterations of the movie. However, while Statham looked like a genuinely rough-and-tough bruiser, Ed Skrein comes across as more at home on the pages of a fashion magazine, but instead dressed like a no-nonsense limo driver. And while his efforts seem genuine and sincere, he's probably not as effective as Statham.

Some lackluster things worth mentioning about this latest effort are pretty much obvious from the get-go. For instance, in many ways, Statham is a superior driver to Skrein (in terms of acting), with his own rough persona permeating his character with a mean disposition from start to finish. Skrein’s character, Martin, and his dad's bond is quite dull and unconvincing, as is la femme-fatale, Anna and her revenge motive (which is seemingly ambiguous and fragmented). The other girls just seem to be great eye-candy and simply in it for the ride.

The bright spots here are the action sequences (a lot of it involves Frank Martin's Audi and gratuitous product placement too) with aim at visual stylishness, the hot babes, over the top car chases and the action sequences with impressive exotic locales. Also, the soundtrack did have added value to the ninety-six minute run-time.

That being said, overall Transporter: Refueled is not a bad reboot and does contain enough action and adrenaline fuel to warrant a visit the theaters if one is so inclined to take in an action flick over the holiday weekend. It is by no means a bigger hit than its Statham-lead predecessors. I believe fans of the franchise might agree that three and a half stars out of five is a fair assessment here, but is better enjoyed with a theater viewing as opposed to a DVD rental.

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