Transporter 3

After reaping the rewards as the founding father of Cinema du look, Luc Besson established himself as the 21st century Roger Corman, and has produced some of the best B movies of recent years: the Glaswegian (!) chop-socky of Unleashed, the delirious inspiring parkour fest District 13, and now this, the third in the successful franchise which turned cheeky chappie Jason Statham into an action hero, not to mention a gay icon. Transporter 3 finds Statham at the mercy of an exploding bracelet and a Ukrainian love interest whom he bonds with over a mutual culinary appreciation. Yes, it’s absolute nonsense, but that’s the whole point. Michael Julienne’s car stunts are impressive as always and Corey Yuen’s martial arts choreography is as wacky as ever. But the highlight is a bizarre reversal of True Lies, in which Statham is forced to strip for the leading lady’s pleasure, Besson stripping the genre of sexism and machismo, and creating the action equivalent of American Gigolo. Nice! [Michael Gillespie]