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Monday, Jan. 5
The Indiana Daily Student

Return film to sender

Matt Baron

The success of Louis Leterrier and producer Luc Besson's "The Transporter" took many people by surprise. Its silly plot, fast cars and innovative fight sequences breathed some fresh air into an otherwise stale genre. But no good film goes "unsequalized." Last year saw the release of the imaginatively titled "Transporter 2," a prime example of all the bad ideas franchise pictures can stumble into. Instead of expanding its crowd-pleasing stunt work, the film falls into "been there, done that" genre.\nAt the start of the new film, former U.S. Special Forces operative Frank Martin (the oddly charismatic Jason Statham) has "retired" from the business of transporting illegal goods in the underworld. Instead, he fills in for a friend as the chauffeur for the president's new drug czar, Mr. Billings (Matthew Modine). When Martin and Billings's son are car-jacked by drug lords looking to influence him, the family and police immediately think Martin is involved. It's up to him to clear his name and save the boy before the drug kingpin releases a biological weapon in the city.\nLike its predecessor, "Transporter 2" doesn't spend too much time on the plot. Instead, the focus is on amazing fight sequences and impressive car chases. This time, Martin uses all manors of weapons to beat the bad guys, not limited to, but including, a plaster skeleton, a fire hose and extremely deadly PVC pipe. However, where the original's fight sequences were imaginative, the sequel never tops them. Obviously handicapped by a PG-13 rating, the fights lack that special something needed to compete.\nThe films Besson writes always seem to be edited horribly. The most famous example is when nearly 20 minutes of the second act was edited out of the American release of "The Professional." "Transporter 2" suffers from the same problem.\nOn the DVD's deleted scenes (the only worthwhile special feature), the viewer can see how much better the movie could have been. While plot is not the film's strong suit, certain gaps in the story can be annoying. Two fight scenes wrap up better in their extended versions, but might have been cut for the amount of blood (which doesn't seem like a lot). \n"Transporter 2" is a disappointment to those who liked the imaginative nature of the original and reeks of making a quick cash-in. The movie could have been bigger and better than most generic action films, but instead manages to fall in with the crowd.

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