Starting with a quick armed robbery, Transit really sets off at a pace it tries to keep up until the very end. It doesn’t quite manage it but it has a good go. After the armed robbery comes the hard part – avoiding the cops and getting away with the loot – so the four robbers (James Frain, Diora Baird, Harold Perrineau and Ryan Donowho) come up with a cunning plan to hide the loot amongst the camping gear of a family (Jim Caviezel as father, Elisabeth Rohm as mother and Sterling Knight and Jake Cherry as the kids). The family will head off for their camping holiday, oblivious to their new cargo, while the crooks follow them and get their cash back once everything seems a lot safer. Well . . . . . . . . that’s the plan, at least.
Director Antonio Negret (who last gave audiences the fairly enjoyable Seconds Apart) moves from chiller to thriller territory with this film, written by Michael Gilvary, and he does a good job. It’s a step down from Seconds Apart but it’s still an entertaining slice of nonsense and shows that Negret has the potential to produce a steady stream of decent little flicks in the same way that Nimrod Antal did. Much like Antal, Negret shows a distinct flair for making the most of his budgets and for wringing entertainment value out of well-worn scenarios.
The cast all do a decent job. The lovely Diora Baird is sadly underused, in my opinion, but James Frain and Harold Perrineau make for great villains and Ryan Donowho does well to grow in presence as the movie progresses. Jim Caviezel is someone I have never really had the time for but I admit that he’s very good in the role of the husband/father trying to protect a family that simply doesn’t trust him due to one MAJOR mistake he made. Elisabeth Rohm is just fine and Sterling Knight and Jake Cherry are both excellent as the two lads caught up amidst the danger.
At the end of the day, Transit is a little bit too cliched and too unassuming to make it essential cinema viewing but it’s probably more deserving of your time and money than 101 other bigger-budgeted films that I could think of. I don’t want to damn the film with faint praise but I can easily see it as something that people enjoy discovering when it hits the rental shelves.
Transit crashes into UK cinemas on April 20th.
DIRECTOR: ANTONIO NEGRET
WRITER: MICHAEL GILVARY
STARS: JIM CAVIEZEL, JAMES FRAIN, HAROLD PERRINEAU, DIORA BAIRD, ELISABETH ROHM, STERLING KNIGHT, RYAN DONOWHO, JAKE CHERRY
RUNTIME: 84 MINS APPROX
COUNTRY: USA
Film Rating: 
