Transporter 2 (2005)

Film of 2012 #25
Some Spoilers

The ridiculous Jason Statham sequel centring around Jason Statham as the driver an ex-special forces operative who in the first film works a as getaway driver and in this film starts as a chauffeur to a rich family. It follows his journey to get the son of the family back and to stop the nefarious scheme of the central bad guy. This film I think has its roots in the Mission Impossible world but it is centred around the Driver, I also think that it is a comedy because some of the things were ridiculous and actually made me laugh out loud, such as how he escapes when there is a bomb attached to his car. 

So you have the central bad guy and his sexy side kick played by machine pistol wielding, underwear wearing Kate Nauta who is in it for the fun as she says kidnapping a young boy and infecting him with a virus so that they take out his father who is some sort of politician in Narcotics control. The hilarity continues as you have the fight on the aeroplane that is ridiculous and funny and from there it sums up the whole plot and action scenes, this film is about the stunts, the fights and the comedic moments that to me work well together to create and enjoyable romp. 

This film falls clearly in the guilty pleasure category and watching this film has made me want to rediscover the first one and to see the third one as you know what you will get with them, I am going to be bad and give this a 3 star recommend and would love to hear if anyone else really enjoys this film. 

Gnomeo & Juliet (2011)

The William Shakespeare play redone as animated garden gnomes what can possibly go wrong, You have the red garden versus the blue garden in this battle of bitter rivalry that no-one can remember how it started and then Gnomeo and Juliet meet and fall in love. This is not that deep a film and is very much for the kids with some references for the adults as well, the voice acting provided by Emily Blunt, James Mcavoy, Jason Statham, Richard Wilson and Patrick Stweart and a whole host of other big name actors there really is quite a lot to like about the cast of this film. And while some of them get really small roles over all none of them do anything wrong, i do like what they do with Tybalt voiced by Jason Statham.


This is a simple story with bright colours that the kids will love and enough references to keep the adults entertained. I have heard bad things about how they address the ending of the original story and I have to say that I disagree, this is a kids film and it introduces a story to them that may encorage them to explore some of the great literature as it comes in a package they can appreciate, the fact that they even take the time to address the ending of the play and the fact that they are going for a different version is good and at least they do not brush it under the carpet.


All in all this is not a film I will revist time and time again but if I am ever fortunate enough to have kids it is definetly a film I would let them watch and would happily watch with them, it is a solid 3 star recommend for the kids.

Death Race 2 (2010)

The sequel to the Jason Statham film which in itself was a re-imaging of the Sylvester Stallone Death Race 2000, and it turns out it was a prequel as well so I was not holding out much optimism but I had enjoyed the original Jason Statham film so thought why not. Now to start with they get a Jason Statham look a like in Luke Goss but it is a totally different character so you do not need a look a like and the story they have for no apparent reason is very similar so it is Death Race lite, the beginning.

The story itself without the original film would have been interesting but as it keeps trying to fit back into the first film you can see where it is going. There are some nice little points that they do very well but I kept thinking that well they have to get to this point and how they get there is sort of tacked on.

This is only 2 stars, if it was a stand alone film then it would be 3 but as it has to try and tie in to the original not worth seeing unless you like low end violence and driving fast cars.

The Mechanic (2011)

This is the remake of the 1972 film of the same name starring Charles Bronson, I have never seen the original so no idea if this is a good remake or not. So taking it as a film on it's own it is an interesting piece about a contract killer who ends up with a conscience. Jason Statham is as awesome as ever, I just love him in everything he does, however it is not really enough to save this film from itself. There are a couple of scenes that if they just gave you enough credit they would be awesome but it has to spoon feed you.

The supporting cast including Donald Sutherland and Ben Foster is good and the story itself is fine, there is nothing special or mind blowing and I do not think anything within the film would be classed as a twist so it becomes a fairly run of the mill film. Now it might be because I have seen so many films what it does is fairly special just with my movie mind I have seen it all done before or I can just see what is happening.

This is a 3 star film, not truly disappointing and worth seeing once but I will probably not revisit in the near future.