The Transporter Refueled smells like a hack job at best, a lazy attempt to cash in on a successful brand. Leading man Ed Skrein can act and looks the part too, but he’s got very little personality. I’m going with two out of five. Bring Statham back. Or inject something fresh into these movies.

If nothing else, this reboot of the Transporter franchise should do wonders for Audi sales, not to mention car safety. Every passenger who sets foot in the tricked-out, gleaming German automobile driven by the titular character is immediately ordered to fasten their seat belt. It’s sound advice, because The Transporter Refueled is a cinematic bumpy ride.

While it does start off slow, ‘Transporter Refueled’ has an entertaining middle act that is impossible not to enjoy. Those looking for their weekly dose of adrenaline can look forward to some amazing fight scenes, that is followed closely by an action packed chase sequence unlike anything you’ve seen before.

Even the one-to-one scuffle is much too monotonous and mundane; you see far better action on television nowadays. Unless a 95-minute long excuse to advertise Audi, Omega or Apple is your idea of a mindless action movie, steer clear of this mechanical junk.

The bright spots are the action sequences and Luc Besson protege Camille Delamarre’s aim at visual stylishness. So if you do decide to go see this, it will be for the babes, car chases and the action sequences.

Transporter Refueled is refueled with some new elements but it does not quite work in that manner. Skreins fails to make the most of this role and does not help us get over Jason Statham’s ruthless act in anyway.

If anything, this is one long commercial for the car maker Audi -the S8 model to be more precise. No matter how many chases it is involved in, it will still come out without a scratch. Unless you decide to blow it up yourself. Car aficionados will love the action, movie lovers can snooze through it.

Luc Besson’s attempts to re-energise the franchise with an entirely new cast and tech team doesn’t do anything to make the experience memorable. This fourth installment can barely get its jollies on track, leave alone the stunts, the assorted action or the car chases. ‘Game of Thrones’ star Ed Skrein’s Frank Martin fails to measure up in Statham’s shoes. Neither his driving skills nor his athletic kicks and chops can make an impression here.

There’s some father-son bonding as both Franks get romantically involved (well, almost) with two of the femme fatales as they strive to bring the villains to justice in an adrenaline-charged thrill ride. The ladies are as lovely as the French Riviera. Stevenson is a treat to watch, Skrein is, well, ho hum. Umm, let me just say he grows on you.

While on the outside, it seems like a feminist story, the fact is that it is an extremely sexist film. The scenery of the film is filled with women who practically wear nothing but high heels. All this is, of course, done under the garb of showing ‘the brutality of the sex trade’. They are constantly presented as eye candy and are in constant need of help from the protagonist and his father.