Transporter 3

Jason Statham is back as ex-Special Forces operative Frank Martin, aka the Transporter, in a third (3) installment. This time, Frank is presented an offer he can't refuse and ends up with a mysterious passenger and a dangerous destination—calling for a new machine and new rules. Based on characters created by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. (Gary Reber)

Special features include audio commentary with Director Olivier Megaton; the featurette Special Delivery: An Inside Look At Modern-Day Transporters (SD 13:49); behind-the-scenes bonus footage featuring storyboards, sets/production design, and special effects (SD 07:30); the Making Of Transporter 3 featurette (SD 16:16); a MOLOG™ network-connected community and interactive BD-Live movie blog tool set; the theatrical trailer; up-front previews; plus a digital copy of the film.

The 1080p AVC picture is stylized, with subdued characteristics in some scenes. The imagery often exhibits a raw look through film-exposure manipulation. Fleshtones can appear natural, though. Blacks are deep and solid, and shadow delineation is generally good. Resolution is a bit soft overall, though, closeups reveal good detail in facial features and textures. Contrast is manipulated often for effect, but at other times, the picture looks perfectly natural. Overall, this is an eye-catching picture that works well with the raw excitement and outrageous action. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 7.1-channel soundtrack is a winner! It is fantastic, with an aggressive holosonic® enveloping soundfield that is extremely dynamic. Bass extension is deep, with rumbling LFE .1 energy below 25 Hz that can be system threatening. The bass provides a solid foundation throughout the film. The music score is wonderfully recorded, with a very wide and deep soundstage that wraps completely around the soundfield. Fidelity and dynamics are excellent, with effective low-level resolution. The SPL often peaks with excitement, and there are often sudden directionalized transient sound effects that raise the adrenalin levels. Dialogue is well recorded, often with good spatial integration. The added surround channels provide wonderful spatial envelopment, and the surrounds never stop to provide dimension. This is the first reviewed Lionsgate 7.1-channel soundtrack that sounds as though the added channels are correctly positioned to the sides, not to the back of the sweet spot. It was not necessary to switch outputs to correctly position the surround signals with respect to our 7.1-channel loudspeaker positioning. Unfortunately, the creative community, the studios, and the equipment manufacturers have not dictated a spatial loudspeaker setup standard, nor has the DTS® seven-position loudspeaker remapping software been implemented in receivers and processors. This is supposed to allow the end user to tell the processor how his or her 7.1-channel loudspeaker system is positioned in the room. Our preferred 7.1-channel setup is a perfect circle, with each full-range loudspeaker location equidistant from the sweet spot and equidistant from each other along the perimeter of the 360-degree circle, forming six equally defined 60-degree segments relative to the sweet spot. In this arrangement, the added mid-left and mid-right surrounds at 90 degrees convey enhanced surround envelopment, dimensionality, and directionality. This is the case here. This is an outstanding and exciting soundtrack that delivers effective sound effects and powerful dynamics, along with an expansive music score that delivers a real sonic thrill ride. (Gary Reber)