There's one scene where Martin simply walks into frame and sits down to talk to a prospective client. This is also one of those action movies where sound effects bludgeon you to death since the visuals are so crummy. For a movie whose main character's motive is driving really fast, 'Refueled' never gives him much exciting driving to do. They're filmed in that brain-blending style where no shot lasts longer than a second and nothing makes sense. The car chases are as derivative as the idea to revive this franchise in the first place. One might hope that even though the movie lacks any sort of substance or style that it would make up for it in the action department. The peril this time around comes from a laughably bad villain who runs the French prostitution circuit.ĭiscussing the plot is futile since it only exists in order to get Martin behind the wheel of a fast car. When you're a driver shuttling ne'er-do-wells around for a living, you're bound to get caught up in some unsettling stuff. Martin's father (Ray Stevenson) has popped in for a visit, and the two of them pal around drinking wine, lounging in million-dollar modern homes, and dress in tailored suits. Here Frank Martin cruises around France picking up mysterious packages and people and transporting them to mysterious places. It also involves transporting someone, and not something, so it has that in common with the others. Like watching 'Days of Our Lives,' but with a couple car chases stuck in for good measure.ĭo we know if 'Refueled' is a remake? Does it even matter? The film does start off with the same ogling of a sleek Audi sedan in a parking garage. The way they speak is supposed to exude confidence when all it does is elicit laughter. It's a breathy whisper-fest where the actors are betrayed by their direction. Everyone talks as though each word is their last. Skrein is doing his best Statham impression, I presume, and it only comes across as desperate.įilled with beautiful, but bad actors and filmed with a garish abandon, 'Refueled' looks and feels distinctly like you've been sentenced to watch a feature-length Dior perfume commercial. Instead Ed Skrein imbues anonymous driver Frank Martin with a phony mystique. 'Refueled' doesn't even have the privilege of sporting a charismatic leading man. Say what you will about the first film – or its sequels – but Jason Statham has a certain energy about him that's addicting.
It's a strange world we live in where a franchise like 'The Transporter' is already getting tossed back through the Hollywood meat grinder for another go. Watching the mindless horror on screen in this remake-reimagining-reboot-whatever-it-is might actually make one remember the original 'Transporter' with unexpected fondness. 'The Transporter Refueled' is the kind of movie that makes you nostalgic for a movie that came out in 2002 to middling reviews.
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