The Transporter (2002)

Movie quotes:
Look, I’m gonna give you some advice. I don’t know what you’re into; I don’t care what you’re into. But whoever wants you dead thinks you’re dead. You have a free pass to start over. Here’s the advice: START OVER!"
- Frank Martin (Jason Statham)

At a glance:
Jason Statham’s makes Frank Martin a worthy action hero with top-notch car chases and Jackie-Chan style fight choreography, but the dramatic/love scenes are clunky

Our review (with spoilers):
Frank Martin is a transporter – the transporter, as a matter of fact. His job is to deliver anything you want by car. Should troubles arise, he’s built to handle it. He’s a former Special Forces operator who left the Armed Forces due to disgruntlement with all his good work going to waste. So he decides to just become a mercenary with a very short list of unbreakable rules (like #3: Never Look In The Bag). Of course, he breaks his own rules and looks inside one of the bags he is delivering. Circumstances build until he is fully involved – romantically and otherwise – with Lai (Shu Qi), as Asian woman small enough to be stuffed into a bag, and yet tough enough to hold a gun to her own father’s head. Lai wants to break up a people smuggling racket. About 30 guys with guns, knives, axes, and martial arts training stand in the way, led by Wall Street (Matt Schulze), a man so lanky and so evil that he even sneers in his official police file photo. Statham also has to fend off Inspector Tarconi (François Berléand), a laconic, persistent local detective.

Your general vibe about Transporter will depend on whether you view Jason Statham as just another small-brained, superficial movie muscleman, or a quiet, intriguing hooligan. I happen to be in the latter camp, so Statham movies amuse me and Statham holds my interest.

Strengths are the opening and closing car/truck chases, and a series of brilliant Jackie-Chan-like martial arts fights pitting Statham against roomfuls of heavily armed thugs and martial arts experts. When things get tough, Statham even greases himself up and fights from the floor, wriggling around like a farm animal. The action looks even better when compared with the attempts at love and drama. Shu Qi is adequate as the comic relief femme fatale, although I must admit I liked her better years ago during her full frontal nudity days (under the monikor Hsu Chi). The plot is facetious, yet still seemed to be taking itself seriously (this is never a good thing). Some of the Statham/Qi dialogue is clunky; this often happens when the directors (in this case, successful Hong Kong filmmaker Corey Yuen and French filmmaker Louis Leterrier) speak English as a second language.

Rating:  2.5 of 4

Other reviewers said:
"The acting might be shoddy, the plot nonsense and the dialogue clunky, but the fighting is exquisitely done. Inventive, athletic, fun, stylish and tight, it's everything the rest of the film isn't."
- Time Out

"Statham impresses in a movie that is simultaneously the best (the fight scenes) and worst (everything else) action movie of the year. Destined for drunken Friday night rental heaven."
- Empire Magazine

The Bourne Identity (2002)

Movie quotes:
Jason Bourne: Look. You drive, I pay, it's that simple.
Marie: Scheisse. I got enough trouble, okay?
Jason Bourne: Okay. Can I have my money back?
[Marie looks down at the wad of bills in her hand. Cut to Marie driving Jason in the car]

"How could I forget about you? You're the only person I know."
- Jason Bourne

"I can tell you the license plate numbers of all six cars outside. I can tell you that our waitress is left-handed and the guy sitting up at the counter weighs two hundred fifteen pounds and knows how to handle himself. I know the best place to look for a gun is the cab of the gray truck outside, and at this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking. Now why would I know that? How can I know that and not know who I am?"
- Jason Bourne

At a glance:
This rare character-driven thriller combines tense action, exotic locations, and a stellar cast, anchored perfectly by Matt Damon as the boyishly innocent-looking but still-deadly Jason Bourne

Our review (with spoilers):
A half-drowned man (Matt Damon) awakens on an Italian fishing vessel, rescued from the ocean, with two bullet holes in his back. He remembers nothing. Slowly, pieces come together; an implant leads him to a safe deposit box that contains cash, numerous passports with a variety of names, and a gun. When threatened, he is surprised to observe himself dispatching two or more armed men with ease. The puzzle takes time to unravel, but what is immediately clear is that many people want him dead. Through convenience, he teams with a troubled, free-spirited woman (Franka Potente) who initially provides transport out of a touchy situation.

This thriller provides plenty of action, but it is, more importantly, character-driven, with strong performances across the board. Matt Damon provides a perfect blend of surface innocence, intelligence, and boyish charm; he is as surprised as we are to find out he is a trained assassin with all the skills of a top secret agent. Franka Potente provides this thriller with an unusual luxury: a strong female lead. Chris Cooper is excellent as Bourne’s boss. Clive Owen is also particularly effective in a small role as an assassin known as The Professor. This nail-biter is laced with occasionally shockingly cold violence (made even more effective by Potente’s heartfelt reactions to it) and lavish European locations; there’s even  a two-second throwaway shot of assassin ‘Castel’ (Nicky Naude) vespa-ing through Rome with the Coliseum in the background. Rating: 3.5 of 4

Other reviewers said:
"Efficient set pieces come neatly spaced every ten to 15 minutes -- just often enough to keep you credulous -- and the trans-European settings lend a classy backdrop."
- Time Out

"Liman can uncork leap-out-of-your-seat shocks, draw out suspense scenes with malicious finesse and even ease a touch of romance and droll humor into the yarn."
- Colin Covert (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

Bend it Like Beckham (2002)

"Eyes down. Don't smile. Indian bride never smiles. You'll ruin the bloody video."
- Wedding videographer

Jessminder (Parminder Nagra) is an Indian teenage girl living in London with a gift for playing soccer. Her traditional family wants none of it, however, especially her father, whose own dreams of being a cricketer were crushed years ago by prejudice. But her talent and drive eventually win out. Extreme feel-good movie manages to avoid most cliches and remain respectful of the culture it focuses on. Rating: 2.5 of 4 reviewed 6 Nov 2007

"A smart, lively and altogether warmhearted dramatic comedy that blends tradition and modernity on screen as adroitly as teenage Jess does in her irresistibly complicated life."
- Kenneth Turan (Los Angeles Times)

Australian Rules (2002)

In a small town in Australia, a teenage boy (Nathan Phillips) becomes the inadvertent hero of his local Australian Rules football team in the Grand Final, but that same night loses his best aboriginal friend (Luke Carroll) in a robbery-related shooting. He has to deal with his grief, his mean-spirited, violent father (Simon Westaway), and the prejudice of his team-mates and townspeople when he starts to fall in love with an aboriginal girl (Lisa Flanagan). It’s difficult for me to judge this movie on its own, as it is loosely based on the wonderful first novel Deadly, Unna? by Phillip Gwynne. Gwynne’s book is geared to a teen audience (although it is a great read for adults as well), and is peppered with wonderful prose, laugh-out-loud humor, and subtle ambiguity. Back to the film: the actors are excellent, but the screenplay (which Gwynne, inexplicably, co-wrote) is inferior to the book in every way. Virtually every change to the plot, mood, and characters (and there are literally dozens of changes) weaken the story or change the point. If you haven’t read the book, do so. If you have, stay away – far away - from this filmed version. Rating: 1 of 4 reviewed 4 Jan 2008

"…increasingly conventional, predictable and schematic as it heads down depressingly dark melodramatic avenues in the second half."
- Neil Young’s Film Lounge

"What we're left with however is a somewhat clumsy, uneven film, where overwrought scenes are interspersed with more intimate and realistic ones with better pacing and timing. In a sense, things are almost too black and white in Australian Rules; it's a film crying out for grey areas, the spaces in film where art is made and risks are taken."
- TripleJ Film Reviews