The Transporter

For other uses, see Transporter (disambiguation).

The Transporter
Film poster
Directed by	Louis Leterrier Corey Yuen
Produced by	Luc Besson Stephen Chasman
Written by	Luc Besson Robert Mark Kamen
Starring	Jason Statham Shu Qi Matt Schulze François Berléand
Music by	Stanley Clarke
Cinematography	Pierre Morel
Editing by	Nicolas Trembasiewicz
Studio	EuropaCorp TF1 Films Production Current Entertainment Canal+
Distributed by	20th Century Fox EuropaCorp
Release date(s)	October 2, 2002 (2002-10-02) (France) October 11, 2002 (2002-10-11) (United States)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	France United Kingdom
Language	English French Chinese
Budget	€20,900,000 (US$21 million (estimate))
Box office	$43,928,932 (worldwide)

The Transporter (French: Le Transporteur) is a 2002 French action film directed by Louis Leterrier and Corey Yuen and written by Luc Besson, who was inspired by BMW Films' The Hire series.

The film stars Jason Statham as Frank Martin, a driver for hire – a mercenary "transporter" who will deliver anything, anywhere – no questions asked – for the right price. It also stars Shu Qi as Lai Kwai.

The film was released in France on October 2, 2002 and in the United States on October 11, 2002. It is the first film in a series also consisting of Transporter 2 and Transporter 3. A television series has also been announced.

Plot

Frank Martin (Jason Statham) is a highly skilled driver known only as "The Transporter." The titular character is a former Special Forces officer who, disillusioned with his former leadership, now lives on the French Mediterranean coastline with a lucrative second career. He will transport anything, no questions asked, from Point A to Point B.

Frank has been hired to transport "Three men, 254 kilos." When not three but four men get into his car, fresh from a bank heist, Frank refuses to move, stating, "The deal's the deal," holding fast to Rule #1. After one gang member is killed by the others, Frank leaves with the remaining robbers. On delivery to their destination, they foist new money on Frank to drive further. He refuses, again adhering to Rule #1. The gangs are later caught by the police.

Frank is then hired to deliver a package to an American gangster (Matt Schulze) known only as "Wall Street." While changing a flat tire on the way to Wall Street, he breaks one of his rules and opens the package that was placed into the trunk at Point A. He finds the package is really a woman. He delivers the package as promised to Point B, but it seems that nothing is ever quite easy for Frank. The rules are designed to make things easier. One should never break the rules. As he leaves, Wall Street hires Frank to transport a briefcase; the briefcase turns out to be a bomb that destroys Frank's car at a roadside stop but leaves him largely unharmed.

Frank returns to Wall Street's residence with a vengeance, dispatching several of his henchmen and then stealing a car to get away, only to find "the package" tied to a chair on the back seat. Later when he gets to his house he puts noodles in the microwave, and unties the package. The next day, local police Inspector Tarconi (François Berléand) turns up at Frank's door. The Inspector makes the usual inquires, producing a scorched license plate. The Inspector leaves and things quiet down. Then missiles hit the house.

Later, the beautiful young woman we now know as Lai, sneaks into police records on the Inspector's computer to find the man who abducted her. She tells Frank that the man (Wall Street) is trafficking two shipping containers full of Chinese people including her own father and family, with no plans to let any of them live. Lai and Frank go to Wall Street's office to find the shipping docket identifying the container but are discovered by Wall Street and nearly killed when an associate of Wall Street arrives with henchmen. The henchmen are knocking Frank out and stop short of killing him when the Inspector arrives to investigate the man whose face Lai left up on his display. The Inspector arrests Frank to save him from Wall Street's henchmen.

At the police station, Frank does his best to explain the situation to the Inspector. the Inspector agrees to abet Frank's escape as his faux hostage. Frank then commandeers a watercraft and other means of transport in search of the containers and Lai, with stunts and displays of martial arts along the way.

It is then revealed that Lai's father is in on the trafficking scheme. Later, Frank opts to pursue Wall Street by hitching a ride on an airplane (while holding the pilot at gunpoint). Frank later jumps out of the plane in a parachute onto a series of trucks which are holding the traffickees. After a short melee fight with Wall Street (who is thrown out of the truck on the highway), Frank pulls the truck over safely. Lai's father meanwhile, has discovered Frank and tries to kill him by shooting him in front of a cliff. Lai ironically comes up behind along with Tarconi and the French police force and shoots her father just before Frank is about to take Lai's father's bullet. The film ends with only one of the two containers of hostages being freed and Frank and Lai reuniting happily.

Cast

• Jason Statham as Frank Martin/The Transporter
• Shu Qi as Lai Kwai
• François Berléand as Inspector Tarconi
• Matt Schulze as Darren "Wall Street" Bettencourt
• Didier Saint Melin as Boss
• Doug Rand as Leader
• Ric Young as Mr. Kwai
• Adrian Dearnell as Newscaster
• Vincent Tulli as Thug (uncredited)

Releases

Theatrical release

The Transporter premiered in 2,573 theaters, grossing $25,296,447 in the United States and a total of $43,928,932 worldwide.

Cut and uncut releases

In the United States and some other countries, certain sequences of violence were either cut or toned down. These include:

• The fight on the bus, which included Jason Statham using a knife.
• The final fight on the highway, where Frank Martin fights Wall Street. In the original French version, Wall Street is crushed beneath the wheels of the truck after Frank throws him from it. In the PG-13 version, he is simply thrown out of the truck and onto the highway.

The uncut fight on the bus can be seen in the "Extended Fight Sequences" on the North American DVD, but with no sound.

Home media

The DVD version was released on October 23, 2003. It included fifteen minutes of extended fight scene footage and a feature-length commentary. On August 23, 2005, the film was released again in a "Special Delivery Edition". This version included all the features of the original release plus a new behind-the-scenes documentary, a making-of featurette, and a storyboard-to-film comparison. The film was also released as a part of "The Transporter Collection", which featured the first two films in the series. A Blu-ray format was released on November 14, 2006.

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes has The Transporter at an average rating of 53% and Metacritic has it listed at 51%. The consensus is that "The Transporter delivers the action at the expense of coherent storytelling."

Manohla Dargis, of the Los Angeles Times, complimented the action, saying, "[Statham] certainly seems equipped to develop into a mid-weight alternative to Vin Diesel. That's particularly true if he keeps working with director Corey Yuen, a Hong Kong action veteran whose talent for hand-to-hand mayhem is truly something to see."

Roger Ebert took the opposite stance, stating, "Too much action brings the movie to a dead standstill."

Eric Harrison, of the Houston Chronicle, says, "It's junk with a capital J. The sooner you realize that, the more quickly you can settle down to enjoying it."

External links

• The Transporter at the Internet Movie Database
• The Transporter at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Transporter at Box Office Mojo
• The Transporter at AllRovi