Have You Rented...TRANSPORTER 2

[NOTE: This is a repost of OB1's review. I just saw the film myself and agree completely. TRANSPORTER 2 is a movie for guys who like movies. It's actually not as dumb as say...THE ISLAND, and it's a hell of a lot more fun. Statham has all the cool fight moves of Jackie Chan mixed with everything that was Steve McQueen.]
Reviewed by OB1:

I can't recall how I happened upon THE TRANSPORTER, but I imagine it had something to do with seeing Jason Statham on the DVD cover in his bad-ass-mid-air-kick-down-the-bad-guy's front door pose. Flip it over. Hm. Hot Asian Babe. Not bad. Then a name jumps out at me. Luc Besson. I've made my decision. I rented "The Transporter."

I sat home, watching this muscular British guy (who, I might add, I was already a fan of) pulling some pretty bitchin' Jackie Chan style acrobatics and pulling 'em off well. I actually enjoyed the cheesy-ness of it, and found myself getting into this guy's character. He was pretty damn cool - and so I found myself having a great time. It was a good ride.

In the sequel, we catch up with our hero Frank Martin (Statham) as he sits in a nearly empty parking garage. He's chilling in the car when a young hottie knocks on his window. If you've seen the first BAD BOYS, you know what's coming. The babe's a distraction used by some large guys who want to steal the Audi. How did they know that there'd be a new Audi in a garage that's totally empty save for one other car? Well, if these are the kind of logic-based questions you demand answers for, this is NOT the film for you.

There are so many ridiculous (dare I say... stupid?) things in the film that I'm almost embarrassed to say that I liked it... and yet, I did. I may have liked it even more than the original. This movie is completely stupid and somehow manages to be brilliant at the same time! I can't figure it out! Who makes a movie where a guy finds out there's a bomb attached to the under-carriage of his car, then uses a ramp to flip the car over so that the bomb hits a crane hook which is in the perfect spot to dislodge the bomb two seconds before it explodes?! Who are these geniuses?! Well, apparently it's Luc Besson (whose true brilliance was prominently displayed in THE PROFESSIONAL, a career high he's so far been nowhere close to re-creating) and writing partner Robert Mark Kamen.

Can't say how I'd feel if I'd actually paid money to see this, but I really did have a fun time - something sorely lacking in most of the time I spent in the theaters over the past summer. There's this wacky assassin chick who likes to run around with two automatic weapons while wearing lingerie and runny mascara. There's a French guy playing an Italian guy who has this weird virus. Jason Flemyng (from SNATCH) who plays (I think) a Russian chemist. The crazy French guy (who's playing Italian) goes after a kid (jesus, now THAT'S a bad guy! He'll kill a cute, precocious kid!) who he kidnapped from Matthew Modine (yes, Matthew frickin' Modine, people!) and his kinda hot wife. And then of course there's the Audi - not as cool as the Beemer in my opinion, but hey, it can drive across rooftops just as well as "The Tumbler" - Oh, yeah, and there's a fight aboard a private jet as it CRASHES INTO THE OCEAN! That's... just.... brilliant, I guess.

So. What the hell. I enjoyed TRANSPORTER 2 and I'm not afraid to say it (well, ok, I am - but I'm saying it anyway). Go see this movie. Leave your brain in the car, grab some popcorn, a cherry coke and enjoy some "stupid genius."