Transporter 3 (2008)

Director:

Olivier Megaton

Writers (WGA):

Luc Besson (written by) &
Robert Mark Kamen (written by) ...

Release Date:

26 November 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

This time, the rules are the same. Except one.

Plot:

Frank Martin puts the driving gloves on to deliver Valentina, the kidnapped daughter of a Ukranian government official, from Marseilles to Odessa on the Black Sea. En route, he has to contend with thugs who want to intercept Valentina's safe delivery and not let his personal feelings get in the way of his dangerous objective.

Plot Keywords:

Car | Toxic Waste | Loss Of Friend | Mascara Running | Shot In The Chest

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Jason Statham	...	Frank Martin
Natalya Rudakova	...	Valentina
François Berléand	...	Inspector Tarconi
Robert Knepper	...	Johnson
Jeroen Krabbé	...	Leonid Vasilev
Alex Kobold	...	Leonid's Aide
David Atrakchi	...	Malcom Manville
Yann Sundberg	...	Flag
Eriq Ebouaney	...	Ice
David Kammenos	...	Driver Market
Silvio Simac	...	Mighty Joe
Oscar Relier	...	Thug / Driver
Timo Dierkes	...	Otto
Igor Koumpan	...	Cop Ukraine
Paul Barrett	...	Captain

Also Known As:

Le transporteur 3 (France)

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

France | UK

Language:

English | French | Ukrainian | Russian | Hungarian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #44805) | UK:15 | Ireland:15A | France:U | India:UA (cinema release) | Malaysia:18SG | Norway:15 | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Czech Republic:12 | South Korea:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Germany:12 | Australia:M | Spain:18 | Taiwan:R-12 | Netherlands:12 | South Africa:13V | New Zealand:M | Finland:K-13 | Argentina:13 | Mexico:B15 | Brazil:16 (DVD rating) | Peru:14

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Company:

Europa Corp.

Trivia:

Olivier Megaton views the "Transporter" franchise as being somewhere in between the James Bond and "Die Hard" series, with a slight edge to "Die Hard".

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Some of the German license plates do not have the correct German license plate font type.

Quotes:

Valentina: Am I not sexy?
Frank Martin: [uninterested] ... yeah, you're sexy.
Valentina: [elatedly] You're the gay!
Frank Martin: Nope! I am not "the gay."

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hierarchy (2009)

Soundtrack:

La Danse de la Mariee

Unexpectedly good!

Ready to watch an average entertaining movie, I didn't expect to see the best of the Transporter sequels.

For once the script has been designed carefully, action and fight scenes happen logically, there is true suspense and we believe in the story. This is not the regular high-budget low-brained film we have been taught to expect.

Valentina (Natalya Rudakova) has a nice touch of "Nikita", and plays wonderfully the captive girl half romantic, half moving. A very promising actress. Jason is excellent as usual, and, for once, gets his performance highlighted thanks to a riveting story. Fight scenes have something from the legendary Jason (Bourne) movies. Camera effects give fights some necessary depth, compared to other movies.

The best of Luc Besson back at work.

Do not pay too much attention to the low rating: It looks like the Transporter aficionados - used to pure raw action/no story "Chuck Norris" like - were disappointed. Well, this is probably the best thing that could happen to this movie: Transporter 3 definitely got its level upgraded and targets a different audience.

My advice to the producer: keep on the good work, and create a new movie based on the same pattern, but just don't name it "Transporter 4", so that you don't disappoint the "Missing in action" fans.