The Transporter Refueled is the fourth installment of the hit Transporter franchise, but serves as a reboot. Ed Skrein (Game of Thrones) takes over the role of Frank Martin, the talented driver who’ll deliver anything, but always sticks to his basic rules: no names; never open the package; and once the deal is made there are no changes.

After Frank accepts the contract to help deliver a package for a mysterious woman, he soon discovers the “package” is two of her friends—the trio are former members of The Coeur Brisé prostitution ring and are robbing a bank to get revenge on their former boss—and Frank has unwittingly become their getaway driver. However, things soon get personal when Frank’s father Frank Martin Sr. (Ray Stevenson) is taken hostage as a result of this revenge plan.
 

While watching the film, I was a little confused as to how this film fit in with the others—I kept thinking that maybe Frank Sr. was the character from the original trilogy of films and that now his son is taking over the business. Frank Sr. is introduced as this mysterious guy who claims he works for Evian selling water, but has some kind of Special Forces type background. However, this appears to be a pure reboot, and this new Frank Martin is supposed to be the same character from the original films, but the events of those films have been reset.

While no one will ever be able to fill Jason Statham’s shoes, Ed Skrein does a decent job portraying that same almost-robotic rule-following driver we loved from the earlier films. The film’s creators have also tried to recapture that same blend of action with moments of humor that made those original films so entertaining. There are some amazing car chases and big action sequences, and plenty of moments where a severely-outnumbered Frank Martin skillfully takes out a room full of men who are trying to subdue him. Frank doesn’t believe in using guns, so he finds lots of creative ways to use items from his surroundings as weapons—file drawers, table legs, a vacuum power cord, an iPhone, a fire extinguisher, etc.

In the earlier films, we had this playful cat and mouse type of dynamic that was going on between Frank and Inspector Tarconi, but that felt missing here. When Frank first teams up with the women, we get a bit of this cat-and-mouse type relationship, but it wasn’t quite the same. The closest thing we get here is the playful relationship between Frank and his father—I really enjoyed this father/son dynamic, and I hope this continues should there be additional films.

While the fight sequences and action were great, some of the story wasn’t quite up to par. The main story centers around these women who were forced into prostitution at an early age and now, 15 years later, are out for revenge against their boss. These are tough women who’ve taken it upon themselves to come up with this plan. However, there’s a scene where they are in Frank’s car and he has set it to automatically drive forward slowly while he’s outside fighting off some guys. Meanwhile, the women are inside the car panicking as the car moves extremely slowly towards a locked gate, not knowing if they should stop the car or let it keep going as Frank instructed. These are tough women who have gone through way worse to get where they are, and this didn’t feel in character. There is also a bit of a romantic thing going between Frank and one of the women, which didn’t seem to fit this character, who has a clear separation of job and personal life.

The picture quality on the Blu-ray is excellent—the French Riviera setting looks beautiful, and the fast-moving stunts and fight sequences are captured in amazing detail. The audio track is also quite impressive, making use of the surround channels to bring the viewer into the action. As for bonus material, the Blu-ray includes an UltraViolet digital copy of the film as well as just over 20 minutes of interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.

What’s Included:
Film: (1:35:54)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Digital Copy (Redemption Deadline 12/8/2018):

• UltraViolet Digital HD Copy redeemable via CinemaNow, Flixster or Vudu

Extras:

• Frank Martin: The Reluctant Hero (9:18)
  The creators talk about finding a replacement for Jason Statham, and how the character of Frank Martin is a little more human this time around. Star Ed Skrein talks discusses what it was like playing this character and the training involved, while his castmates talk about what it was like working with him. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, footage of Ed Skein’s fight training and interviews with director Camille Delamarre, fight coordinator Alain Figlarz, and stars Ed Skrein (“Frank Martin”), Gabriella Wright (“Gina”), Loan Chabanol (“Anna”) and Ray Stevenson (“Frank Martin Sr.”).
• The Coeur Brisé: Les Femmes of Refueled (5:32)
  The director and cast talk about the women of The Coeur Brisé, the training involved to play these characters, and what it was like working with the actresses. Includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with director Camille Delamarre and stars Ed Skrein, Loan Chabanol, Ray Stevenson, Gabriella Wright, Tatiana Pajkovic (“Maria”), Wenxia Yu (“Qiao”) and Noémie Lenoir (“Maïssa”).



• Rocketing from 0-60 (5:40)
  A look behind-the-scenes at the making of some of the amazing car sequences. Includes interviews with director Camille Delamarre, car stunt coordinator Michel Julienne, and stars Ed Skrein, Loan Chabanol, Tatiana Pajkovic, Gabriella Wright and Ray Stevenson.
• Theatrical Trailer (2:29)
• Sneak Peek (11:12)
  Play All or select from trailers for “Deadpool”, “Spectre”, “Hitman: Agent 47”, “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials”, Homeland Season 4, and Vikings Season 3.

Final Thoughts:

While I didn’t find the story of this fourth installment up to par with the original Transporter film, the film’s creators did do a great job at giving viewers the same type of action and fight sequences that made the original films so entertaining. I wish they had found a way to connect this film to the others instead of doing a complete reboot—it would have been nice to have some sort of passing of the torch. That said, Ed Skrein does a decent job at trying to fill Jason Statham’s shoes—I think this was a good first step and would be interested in seeing more films in the franchise. I think those unfamiliar with the original trilogy of films will be able to enjoy this even more, not having seen Statham play the role first. The Blu-ray looks and sounds great, but only contains about 20 minutes of bonus material. Overall, the film has some amazing action sequences that are definitely worth checking out.