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Movie review | Statham wisely bowed out of fourth ‘Transporter’ movie


This photo provided by EuropaCorp/TF1 Films shows Tatiana Pajkovic, from left, as Maria, Loan Chabonal, as Anna, Yu Wenxia, as Qiao, and Ed Skrein, as Frank Martin, in EuropaCorp’s “The Transporter Refueled.”
This photo provided by EuropaCorp/TF1 Films shows Tatiana Pajkovic, from left, as Maria, Loan Chabonal, as Anna, Yu Wenxia, as Qiao, and Ed Skrein, as Frank Martin, in EuropaCorp’s “The Transporter Refueled.” AP

The Transporter Refueled ***

If you’ve been jonesing to see a two-hour infomercial touting the coolness of Audi luxury cars, then “The Transporter Refueled” is your movie; it’s a product placement extravaganza, but one that’s actually pretty entertaining.

You may miss Jason Statham, the martial artist tough guy who made the first three films in the Transporter franchise fun to watch, but he wisely bowed out of this fourth film.

The new kid, 31-year-old Ed Skrien, born in London, England, is good, but lacks some of the magic that Statham brought to the role of Frank Martin, a driver for hire with an expertise in making very sketchy deliveries.

You’ll want to see this film for the exotic locales including Paris, parts of the U.S., and 14 additional countries, plus a few exciting action sequences and car chases.

What do those stars mean?

* Really, really, really bad. Don’t bother.

** Pretty bad, with one or more redeeming scenes.

*** Pretty good, but maybe not great, worth seeing for most

**** Really great, a winning combination of story, casting, and directing

***** The rarest gem, an all-around perfect motion picture

This story was originally published September 13, 2015 at 6:37 PM with the headline "Movie review | Statham wisely bowed out of fourth ‘Transporter’ movie."

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