Skip to main content
  • TotalFilm
  • Edge
  • Newsarama
  • Retrogamer
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+
US EditionUS CA EditionCanada UK EditionUK AU EditionAustralia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Trending
  • Best Netflix Movies
  • Movie Release Dates
  • Best movies on Disney Plus
  • Best Netflix Shows
  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies
  3. Crime Movies
  4. transporter 2

Transporter 2 review

Reviews
By Total Film published 25 November 2005

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

Long, long before Jason Statham urgently growls, "Jack's been infected with a deadly virus, Audrey!" you know what you're in for. A movie where wooden doors can stop machine-gun fire. Where cars base-jump buildings. Where will-work-for-food Lock, Stock alumni Jason Flemyng can play a Russian scientist. A movie, in short, by Luc Besson.

It's the latest knock-off from the kung fu chop-shop of writer/producer Besson, who's long since cashed in his promise as a fizzy visualist in order to marshal a conveyor-belt of genre riffs that involve a) Thumping people and b) Driving reallyreallyfast. Neither of which pose a problem for the Brit Bruce Willis in this inevitable sequel to 2002's action lunker.

With his immaculate suits, steely-cool, ruthless determination and hawk-like senses, Frank Martin is somewhere between a stubbly James Bond and the man Jack Carter might have been if mummy had given him more cuddles. A walking breeze-block who gargles broken glass every morning, he's as starched as his shirts - meaning it's a role ideally suited to Statham's endearing two-gear range (squinting/ not squinting). The Yanks, of course, love him. Why? Because there's a winning wryness to the Guy Ritchie fave that suggests he's always well-aware of the silliness of what he's doing. Here, he's really earning his beans.

In perhaps the first storyline this century to pivot around Columbian drug-barons, Frank must take on a gang of Euro-trash rent-a-villains bossed by oily über-thug Alessandro Gassman, whose dentist clearly doubles as his acting coach. With assassinatrix super-slut Lola (Kate Nauta) epitomising Besson's garters'n'guns B-movie mojo, Transporter 2 flunks gravity, logic and sense with happy, spastic confidence. All of which makes for a bad movie that's impossible to hate, as Statham batters hordes of inept gunmen, effortlessly dodges bullets and pulls off ludicrous stunts involving everything from Audis to jet-skis. Our favourite? Frank removing a car bomb by top-speeding his motor into a mid-air pirouette and catching the device on a dangling crane-hook. You'll laugh till your ribs shatter.

Stupidest movie of the year? Quite probably. But we're betting you'll see it ahead of the next Jim Jarmusch film.

Sign up for the Total Film Newsletter

Bringing all the latest movie news, features, and reviews to your inbox

By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
CATEGORIES
Netflix Disney Plus Apple Tv Plus Amazon Prime Video Streaming Services
Total Film

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine. 

Latest in Crime Movies
Glen Powell as Becket in How to Make a Killing
How to Make a Killing is Glen Powell's latest mid-budget movie, and I hope he never stops making them
 
 
Barry Keoghan as Duke Shelby walking in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man
Netflix's new Peaky Blinders movie debuts to rave reviews and a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score
 
 
Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby walking in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man ending explained: does Tommy Shelby die and will there be a new season?
 
 
Rebecca Ferguson as Kaulo Chirklo standing in front of a fire in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man star Rebecca Ferguson says the Netflix movie works as a "standalone film"
 
 
Jessie Buckley as Ida/Penny in The Bride
The Bride earns mixed first reviews, as critics call it everything from "a modern classic" to "unholy mess"
 
 
Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man
Cillian Murphy says Netflix's Peaky Blinders movie is the "natural conclusion" for Tommy Shelby
 
 
Latest in Reviews
Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE gaming keyboard on a wooden desk
The Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE has returned to take the magnetic crown, but that price tag is going to be a problem
 
 
A Thrustmaster T248R and its pedals on a grey carpet
The Thrustmaster T248R is making me question where a sim racing wheel with no direct drive and no modular wheelbase fits in the market in 2026
 
 
Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace in Project Hail Mary
Project Hail Mary review: "Large scale sci-fi with tons of heart"
 
 
Slay the Spire 2
Slay the Spire 2 early access review: "Instantly familiar, but already bursting with new ideas"
 
 
Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy Emily Rudd as Nami and Jacob Romero as Usopp standing on the deck of the Merry in One Piece season 2
One Piece season 2 review: "It's hard to imagine a better version of One Piece in live action"
 
 
The player raises their fist as it glows blue in Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection
Monster Hunter Stories 3 review: "This Pokemon-like JRPG evolves to almost match the highs of the main series' hunts"
 
 
LATEST ARTICLES
  1. Key art for Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred showing Mephisto, a spiky and angular demon, against a red, lightning backdrop, arm and claw raised menancingly, cropped to show more of him
    1
    "It's going to be really f***ing hard": Diablo 4 is getting 8 new difficulty tiers in Lord of Hatred because Blizzard wants OP builds to actually have to try
  2. 2
    Marvel fans are debating whether Dafne Keen should become Wolverine or stay as X-23, and I've already chosen a side
  3. 3
    "I wouldn't rule out a Palworld 2.0," says Pocketpair publishing head, but don't expect a "No Man's Sky situation" with a "decade of continuous, massive updates"
  4. 4
    "Whoever sells more copies pays for the other's therapy": Peak came about after a bet between Content Warning and Another Crab's Treasure leads, and ironically the friendslop collab that followed sold more than both games combined
  5. 5
    Samurai Champloo is returning as a live-action Netflix series from One Piece adaptation team, and the original creator is on board: "We've learned" after Cowboy Bebop

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google
  • Terms and conditions
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Accessibility statement
  • Careers
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...