COREY YUEN
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BB.5.
France/USA, 2002. EuropaCorp, TF1 Films Production, Current Entertainment, Canal+. Screenplay by Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen. Cinematography by Pierre Morel. Produced by Luc Besson, Steven Chasman. Music by Stanley Clarke. Production Design by Hugues Tissandier. Costume Design by Martine Rapin. Film Editing by Nicolas Trembasiewicz.
Jason Statham plays a driver who is hired by hoods and thugs to transport various items of a discreet nature around Europe. Travelling around in his swanky BMW, Statham hides out in a beautiful French villa when he’s not on the job. His latest assignment, to bring a package to a wealthy arms dealer, goes awry when the item in the bag turns out to be a living, female body (Qi Shu). When the employer tries to terminate our hero’s life, he returns to save the girl and find out what the real story is behind all of the shady activity. This film, co-written by Luc Besson, succeeds partly because it never pretends to be more than another diverting action film. On the other hand, the action is never really that good, mostly just loud explosions and badly choreographed fights where the editing reveals all the work going behind each move. Statham makes a terrific lead, but the badly written part has him do little more than mug for the camera.
