A bunch of thugs orchestrate an armored car robbery, killing the guards in the process. The next morning on the run with the money, they find out through their police scanner that there's a roadblock ahead so they decide to park at a rest stop. When an SUV packed with luggage on the roof parks nearby they get an idea- exchange their package with a piece of luggage from the SUV, follow the owner and later pick up the money. The plan works well, the SUV goes through the roadblock and so do the bad guys despite misgivings by the police.
But when it comes to getting the money back, the bad guys get impatient and lose it. They try to drive the SUV off the road at a speed trap. The driver of the SUV is caught and because he's on parole, he's jailed. His family rents two rooms in a motel. The bad guys break into one of them but it's the room that doesn't have the money. The police arrive and the bad guys leave. Once again they have to catch up with the family later to get the money. When the wife by accident discovers the money, she blames the husband who was previously jailed for white collar crime. She leaves him with the money in the middle of the road and drives with the two sons away. He hides the money and has to figure out how to get his family back with whom the bad guys have caught up.
Transit is one of the better movies of the genre. It has plenty of good action and violence but it's also intelligent as the father and his nemesis figure out ways to outsmart each other. The cast is excellent: Caviezel, Röhm, Frain shine in their roles. The bad guy is bad and you can't wait for him to face justice while Caviezel is immensely likable. This is a B movie like they used to make them decades ago- a good cast, good story, well-made-- just barely below an A level movie. I enjoyed that almost the entire movie takes place outdoors in Louisiana.