The upcoming fourth Frank Martin movie The Transporter Legacy has just been retitled to The Transporter Refueled. Okay, I guess.
But why? Why even bother? Whoever cares about The Transporter series only cares for one aspect anyway, and that is Jason Statham. The first made the man and paved his way to become one of Europe’s biggest action stars. Even though the sequels turned out to be less and less entertaining due to uninspired use of CGI and Olivier Megaton, the role itself has earned a well-deserved reputation. Statham is not in the new movie as it is a reboot, and look who they got instead. Ed Skrein. You may have seen him in Game of Thrones as Daario Naharis, but you probably don’t know much else about him. He had small parts in movies like Northmen: A Viking Saga and raps under the alias The Dinnerlady P.I.M.P. He may be a lean, bald dude with a swimming background just like Statham, but there’s no indication that Skrein has any martial arts background. And if there’s one thing that made Statham’s introduction such a revelation it’s the fact that he did most of his impressive stunts and fights himself.
Not even the team behind the movie sparks much hope. Director Camille Delamarre comes from Brick Mansions, and screenwriters Bill Collage and Adam Cooper wrote Exodus: Gods and Kings, Accepted and the Olsen twins / Eugene Levy smash New York Minute.
Also, if you do happen to be in the mood for a low-rent Transporter without Statham, there’s already the television series to watch. Chris Vance has managed to fill out two seasons already and it seems he won’t leave anytime soon. Therefore: why do a movie unless Statham is involved? EuropaCorp itself doesn’t even seem to be trusting the movie very much, as they dumped it right between Jurassic World (June 12th) and Ted 2 (June 26th).
What do you think: am I too harsh? Could Skrein be the next generation’s Statham?