The Transporter Blu-ray Review

by Casimir Harlow
Movies & TV Shows Review

The Transporter Blu-ray Review
MSRP: £24.79

Picture

The Transporter comes to the Blu-ray format looking better than ever before, shining in 1080p High Definition, in its original widescreen theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Detail is generally very good indeed, from the facial close-ups to the beautiful Nice location shots. There is very little softness indeed (perhaps only noticeable during the underwater shots), with absolutely no signs of edge enhancement or digital artefacting, although a couple of the indoor sequences do showcase a little more grain than I would have liked. Still, it is nothing that particularly ruins your enjoyment of the movie. The colour scheme is quite broad and luscious (check out the first meeting between Frank and the detective), with the sun glazing many of the sequences, and the screen lighting up during explosions. Even the darker lit sequences, like the bus station fight, look excellent, with no loss in detail and texture, and colours maintaining credibility. There are a couple of moments where you get the feeling that colours are on the borderline of over-saturation (like during the bar sequence) but for the most part, the clinical palette is well depicted. It's a clean, glossy action movie and the Blu-ray format shows it off in the best light.

The Transporter

Sound

To accompany the movie on this next generation Blu-ray format, we get a lossless DTS HD 5.1 audio track (although until the new 2nd wave players come out, all we're going to get from the track is 1.5Mbps core DTS). The dialogue is clear and coherent throughout, predominantly emanating from the fronts and centre channels. Effects come fast and furious, from the five thousand rounds spent during the house sequence to the screeching car chases and explosions, not to mention some of the brutal blows dealt throughout. The effects tend to also be front-dominant, but some of them creep across the rears to provide some dynamics, and the louder bang bangs even give the bass a good workout. The score is positively ridiculous at times, particularly during the 'establishing relationship' moments, but it does the job fine during the action sequences, with the same frenzied French edge to it that the Luc Besson Taxi series also had. There are also a couple of tracks that are supposedly playing out of Frank's stereo. All in all, it sounds great in High Definition.

The Transporter

Extras

To accompany the movie, they do at least throw in the scene-specific full-length Audio Commentary by the witty Jason Statham and Producer Steve Chasman, which was present on both the original and the Special Edition DVD release, but they fail to port over any of the other material. The most annoying loss is the Extended Fight Sequences option, which was probably just as watchable as the main feature, and a little more brutal. Still, this is what we have come to expect from many Blu-ray releases these days in terms of extras - they are gambling on people picking up the discs for technical specs and not extra material. We do get a bunch of Blu-ray trailers though to pad out the disc.

The Transporter
The Transporters is a glossy, glorified 80s action flick, starring a kick ass Jason Statham and featuring some fun stunts and set-pieces. Switch your brain off and you're unlikely to find yours either entertained by the martial arts and shootouts or, at the very least, laughing at the sheer stupidity of it all. The Blu-ray release of this movie comes with superior but not exceptional video and a great audio track to boot, although the loss of extras from even the standard DVD release is a little annoying. Overall, if you haven't got this in your collection then it more than likely deserves a warm place considering its rewatch potential.

Scores

Movie

.
.
.
7

Picture Quality

.
.
8

Sound Quality

.
.
8

Extras

.
.
.
.
.
.
4

Overall

.
.
.
7
7
AVForumsSCORE
OUT OF
10

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