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 and tortured by the memories of his past, now lives on the French Mediterranean coastline with a lucrative "backup" career. He will transport anything, no questions asked, from Point A to Point B, always at time, and he is known as one of the best in the business. He strictly follows three rules when transporting: Rule #1: "No new deals, when is the deal, it's a deal", Rule #2: "No names", and Rule #3: "Don't open the package".

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, 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 from the city. He refuses the deal, again adhering to Rule #1. The robbers escape in the backup car, and Frank leaves them.

Frank returns to his mansion in south France, and he finds out via the news that the gang was caught after crashing their getaway car in the pursuit. Later, local police Inspector Tarconi (François Berléand), who happens to be a close acquaintance, arrives to question Frank about the robbery, since his car showed on the media and Tarconi suspected Frank. However, despite his suspicions about Frank's involvement, Tarconi has no concrete proof about the heist (due to Frank cleaning up the car and changing the licence plate) and leaves his Villa.

Frank is then hired to deliver a package to an American gangster (Matt Schulze) known only as "Wall Street.". During the way, he notices that something is moving in the package, but he refuses to open the bag due to his Rule #3. While changing a flat tire on the road in France, 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, and he makes a small hole and gives her a juice to drink up. He delivers the package as promised to Point B.

Wall Street suggest Frank to transport a briefcase to the new position. Frank relucantly accepts the job. He takes the briefcase and leaves. On the way, he stops at the local bar over the gas station to rest for a little while, but the briefcase turns out to be a bomb that destroys Frank's car at a parking lot but leaves him unharmed (due to his sitting in the bar). Frank snaps and 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 on, he returns to his house and cooks the dinner, and unties the package who tells him that her name is Lai. The next day, Tarconi arrives again and makes the usual inquires, producing a scorched license plate, and the suspicion that a house maid drives a Mercedes. Lai supports Frank's alibi, leaving Tarconi with no proof again (who didn't notice that the front light on the car was broken). However, after he leaves, missiles rain down Frank's house, and Frank and Lai are barely able to escape the house in the sewers, swimming away from the house before it explodes. They hide in Frank's apartment in the city, but Tarconi finds them and takes them to the police station for questioning about the destruction of Frank's house

At thhe police station, Frank and Lai are able deflect Tarconi's questions, and Lai manages to sneak onto Tarconi's computer to access information on Wall Street. She tells Frank that Wall Street is trafficking two shipping containers full of Chinese people including her own father and family, and is planning to sell them into slavery. Lai and Frank go to Wall Street's office to find the shipping docket identifying the containers. However, Wall Street reveals that Lai's family is not in the containers. In fact, her father is the man responsible for the human trafficking. Tarconi, who was following Frank, then arrives at the office. Wall Street and Lai's father accuse Frank of kidnapping Lai and attempting to blackmail them. Unable to prove otherwise, Tarconi has Frank arrested and locked in the station.

At the police station, Frank does his best to explain the situation to Tarconi. Tarconi agrees to abet Frank's escape as his faux hostage. Frank then tracks the criminals to the docks, where they load the containers onto trucks. However, Frank is spotted and is forced to fight his way through the guards, failing to stop the trucks. He then steals a small airplane and parachutes onto one of the trucks, killing Wall Street and a number of his henchmen. After getting out of the truck, Frank is then ambushed by Lai's father. However, Frank is saved when Lai shoots her own father. Afterwards, Tarconi arrives with the police and they rescue the people trapped inside the containers, and Frank and Lai help them to load them in the ambulance vans as the scene blacks out.

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