Transit (2012)

(On-demand video, July 2012) Straight-to-video genre movies seem on an upward quality swing lately, and Transit seems to be a perfectly good example of the form as it exists now: Reportedly shot with a paltry five-million-dollar budget, the film looks relatively good and progresses quickly, featuring a few action sequences along the way. Jim Caviezel stars as an ex-con father whose family car is unwittingly used as a mule by thieves. The opportunity for the family to reconnect through a camping trip is tested once the criminals come back to claim their stash: Mayhem ensues. This isn’t more than a straightforward B-movie thriller, but recent advances in digital filmmaking lend a visual polish to the film that earlier examples of the form couldn’t match. While the cinematography is far too saturated to be called beautiful, it is a striking example what is now possible on a modest budget. The plot is just interesting enough to keep viewer’s attention, although a number of plot holes will strike the attentive viewer as distracting. (It sort-of-helps that the contrivances are the kind that keep plots moving.) Transit is not, to be clear, a good film. But it’s entertaining enough given the modest expectations that come in tackling a film that has never played widely in North-American theaters.