The Transporter

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The Transporter
The Transporter film poster
Directed by	Corey Yuen
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
Distributed by	EuropaCorp 20th Century Fox (US) Touchstone Pictures (BR)
Release date(s)	France: October 2, 2002 United States: October 11, 2002
Running time	88 min.
Language	English
Budget	€20,900,000[1] (USD$21m[2])
Followed by	Transporter 2

The Transporter (French: Le Transporteur) is a 2002 French action / crime / driving movie directed by Corey Yuen. Luc Besson was inspired by BMW Films' "The Hire" series to create this movie. It was released in France on October 2, 2002 and in the United States on October 11, 2002. The Transporter stars Jason Statham as Frank Martin and Shu Qi as Lai Kwai. This is the first film in the series; it is followed by Transporter 2 and Transporter 3.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Releases 3.1 Theatrical release 3.2 Cut and uncut releases 3.3 DVD and Blu-ray release 4 Reception 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Plot

Frank Martin is hired to deliver a package to an American gangster known only as "Wall Street" in his BMW 735i. Breaking one of his rules, Frank opens the package, it is revealed to be a young woman tied up and gagged, by the name of Lai. Initially, Frank simply delivers the package, but when "Wall Street" attempts to kill Frank, Frank returns to the delivery site. Frank injures many of "Wall Street"'s henchmen and takes Lai back to his house, where she explains that there is a large container full of people. Frank succeeds in an attempt to retrieve a truck full of immigrants.

Frank is aided by a French Police inspector named Tarconi. Initially, Tarconi is assigned to investigate the path of destruction that Frank is leaving, but he ends up aiding in the recovery of the containers full of human slaves. Incidentally, although two slave containers are identified, Frank only recovers one at the end of the film.

[edit] Cast

• Jason Statham as Frank Martin
• Shu Qi as Lai
• 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

[edit] Releases

[edit] Theatrical release

The Transporter premiered in 2,573 theaters, grossing $9,107,816 in the United States^[2] and a total of $43,928,932 worldwide.^[2]

[edit] Cut and uncut releases

In the United States and some other countries, certain sequences of violence were either cut or toned down. The first sequence was the fight on the bus, in which scenes of Jason Statham using a knife were cut. In the second sequence: the final fight on the highway, that sees Frank Martin fighting Wall Street, after he throws Wall Street out of the truck, he is shown being crushed under the wheels of the truck in the original French version. In the PG-13 version, however, he is simply thrown out of the truck and on to the highway.

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

[edit] DVD and Blu-ray release

The DVD version was released on October 23, 2003. This version included fifteen minutes of extended fight scene footage, and a feature-length commentary. On August 23, 2005, the movie 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 movie was also released as a part of "The Transporter Collection", which featured the first two films in the series. On November 14, 2006 the film was released on the Blu-ray format.

[edit] Reception

The Transporter was released to a mixed critical reception. Rotten Tomatoes has the film at an average rating of 53%^[3] and Metacritic has it listed at 51%.^[4] The consensus is that "The Transporter delivers the action at the expense of coherent storytelling."^[3] 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."^[5] However, Roger Ebert's took the opposite stance stating, "Too much action brings the movie to a dead standstill."^[6] 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."^[7]

[edit] See also

• Transporter 2 - The second film in the series.
• Transporter 3 - The third film in the series.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Transporter at the Internet Movie Database
• The Transporter at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Transporter at Box Office Mojo
• The Transporter at Allmovie
• Scientific description of movie scenes on cisci.net

v • d • e Transporter Series Films The Transporter · Transporter 2 · Transporter 3 Characters Frank Martin

v • d • e Films directed by Louis Leterrier Transporter 2 (2005) · Unleashed (2005) · The Incredible Hulk (2008) · Clash of the Titans (2010)