When I think of the “Transporter” films, I think of Jason Statham and how he made that franchise so well known. 

“The Transporter Refueled” is a reboot that gives us a new actor, Ed Skrein, in the lead role. I wasn’t excited going in because I didn’t want to face someone taking over Statham’s role—especially if they were going to be better. At least, I figured, it would be an entertaining, mindless action film that I could sit through and be somewhat satisfied with. I was wrong. A disappointing reboot is an understatement for this film. The screenplay was bad, the directing was bad and the performances were bad. Everything was bad. 

The story was lousy in many ways, but the worst was that a certain character was kidnapped, rescued, and then kidnapped again. What’s really sad is that the kidnapped character gives the best performance and isn’t even one of the main characters. 

The plot’s entire development was silly. To get the franchise back on its feet, the main focus should’ve been on Skrein taking over the role of the Transporter to replace Statham. In the end, though, he does nothing memorable and does nothing to make me care that he’s the new Transporter. His action scenes were not exciting, and he had none of the suave attitude Statham brought to the character.

Aside from a new actor in an old role, nothing stood out in this film. It has mindless action. If I wanted mindless action, I would have stayed at home and watched Netflix. There just isn’t anything special about this film.

“The Transporter Refueled” suffers from a bad title and worse scriptwriting, directing and acting. All of those are necessary elements to make a film great. I can’t recommend this film because, again, you can find something far better on Netflix without looking very hard. I almost wish I hadn’t seen it, but I’m glad I did so that I could discourage everyone from going to see this film.

My Score: 0/4