Golublog: An Anthropology Blog

I just watched The Transporter, which I missed in the theaters. There is a lot to say about the film. There are probably about thirty things wrong with it, and about a hundred and fifty things right. France, China, and American have been triangulating the action film for some time, and the creative ferment has yielded scores of great films. Besson watching American directors watching the Shaw Brothers; Jet Li, Chow Yun Fat, Jackie Chan, and John Wu attempting to integrate themselves into an American film industry that has its own ideas about what makes them special; the Tarantino-Rodriguez balletic expansion of filmic genres whos lack of realism are rooted in the tradition of Cantonese Opera and Wu Shu; the European hyperbolic appreciation of cool with its heightened drama and flattened out psychology, a cool which we know from Besson but which can ultimately be traced back to French New Wave; the sets and car chases of Ronin combined with an action sensibility that is half Die Hard and half Police Story III – all combine in this film which, if not a masterpiece, demonstrates how potent the genre flick can be when done right.

But above all Jason Statham shines. Not since Wesley Snipes have we had an action star who so clearly knows how to fight. And, like Snipes, his physcality exudes the street and not elaborate martial arts training. No matter how many fast cuts you do and no matter how skilled the director there is simply no replacement for genuine physical ability, and Statham exudes a cagey street-saviness in the roll. Also, his leg-work is pretty fierce. While Keanu Reeves has learned enough poise to demonstrate his chops when surrounded by skilled martial artists and a lot of special effects, Statham just kicks ass. He definitely gets to play me in the movie version of the novel of the blog of AHATPOLS.

All of this has tempted me to imagine a 10 week course – probably a summer or extension class – on ‘the transnational action flick’. It would begin with a Western and some classics 70s Hong Kong martial arts, and then trace the development of the genre across the globe. I can just see it now: Week Three: “Car Chases”. Week Four: “The Collision with Science Fiction: Aliens II and The Fifth Element in Comparative Perspective”.

Maybe we should run it as an informal, once-a-month salon in the old-school style. Except with more whiskey and less powdered wigs and stockings. Any philanthropists interested in hosting?