Jason Statham returns as Frank Martin, professional transporter, in “Transporter 3,” another one of his shot-for-the-middle action films.

This time around, Martin is coerced into playing delivery man after a business associate crashes through his villa.

Choosing the job instead of a bullet through the brain, he has to transport a mystery package from France to Ukraine. The twist in the film is that Martin and his passenger Valentina (Natalya Rudakova) are wearing bracelets that explode if they go more than 75 feet from the car.

Showing a sign of the times, “Transporter 3” has an environmental angle to it. A foreign company is trying to dump toxic waste in Ukraine, but when the head of the Ukraine’s version of the EPA refuses to allow it, said company kidnaps his daughter and blackmails him.

Credit is due to director Olivier Megaton (that’s right) for being eco-conscious, but it’s kind of hard to take his Earth-first approach serious after spending two hours watching people drive across Europe.

As with Statham’s recent run of movies, the fight scenes are relatively impressive, considering they take the “let’s-surround-him-and-attack-one-at-a-time” approach. The scenes get points for creativity, because they involve clothes in a non-lame way.

The car chase scenes are rehashes from the first two films, though the climax is not as ridiculous as it could have been, which is good.

The biggest downer of the film is the back-and-forth between Martin and Valentina. The banter is supposed to explore the sexual tension between the two, but it comes off as bland and corny.

Martin has certainly changed the third time out. Instead of being unwavering in his “rules,” he plays it loose, even trying to get his “all gloom and doom” passenger to relax.

For fans of the previous films, “Transporter 3” is a good continuation of the Martin character. For everyone else, it’s a decent action film that is easier to enjoy once you realize it’s just that: a decent action film.

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