These days, everyone from Vin Diesel in XXX to Mike Myers in Goldmember wants to be James Bond.

Even villains are getting in on the fad. Frank Martin, the anti-hero in the action thriller The Transporter, is a James Bond style underworld figure.

He's actually a former Special Force operator good-guy turned bad by circumstance, but that's way more backstory than anyone really needs or wants to know.

The important thing is that Martin (Jason Statham) is a crackerjack go-between known in dark circles as a transporter.

The first 40 minutes of The Transporter is pure escapist dynamite with action sequences and chases that are genuinely exhilarating.

Working on a script by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, who collaborated on The Fifth Element and Kiss of the Dragon, Hong Kong action director Corey Yuen practically puts the viewer into the speeding cars with Martin and his cargos.

There's very little room for dialogue but that's what makes The Transporter so much fun. It's all about the vicarious thrills and vicarious dangers.

Things really begin to heat up when Martin breaks his rules and looks into a large duffel bag he's transporting.

It contains Lai (Shu Oi), a Japanese woman with a price on her head.

Besson likes the idea of a pairing a tough, independent man with an unlikely female accomplice ala La Femme Nikita, The Professional and Kiss of the Dragon.

Statham, who got his start in the Guy Ritchie films Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, makes a credible action star.

A former Olympic swimmer and diver, he brings a real fluidity to the many fight sequences and his acting has a gritty naturalness.

Shu is the film's eye candy.

For a while the film transports its audiences into a fun, fantasy world where no explosion is big enough to make a point and no plot twist too contrived to get the cast into another fight or chase.

(This film is rated AA)

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