The Transporter
Encyclopedia
The Transporter 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.
The film's popularity and success made Statham a popular action star
.
) 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 unceremoniously 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 one of the two containers of hostages being freed and Frank and Lai reuniting happily.
The uncut fight on the bus can be seen in the "Extended Fight Sequences" on the North American DVD, but with no sound.
format was released on November 14, 2006.
has the film 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."
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
directed by Louis Leterrier
Louis Leterrier
Louis Leterrier is a French film director whose notable films include the first two Transporter movies, Unleashed , The Incredible Hulk , and Clash of the Titans .-Life and career:...
and Corey Yuen
Corey Yuen
Corey Yuen Kwai is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker and producer. He was a member of the Peking Opera Schools and one of the Seven Little Fortunes.-Life and career:...
and written by Luc Besson
Luc Besson
Luc Besson is a French film director, writer, and producer. He is the creator of EuropaCorp film company. He has been involved with over 50 films, spanning 26 years, as writer, director, and/or producer.-Early life:...
, who was inspired by BMW Films' The Hire series.
The film stars Jason Statham
Jason Statham
Jason Statham born 12 September1967) is an English actor and former diver, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Revolver, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels...
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
Shu Qi
Shu Qi is the stage name of a Taiwanese actress born Lin Li-Hui . Her stage name is occasionally romanized as Hsu Chi or Shu Kei . Her name is sometimes seen in the Western order as Qi Shu.-Early life:...
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
Transporter 2
Transporter 2 is a 2005 action film directed by Louis Leterrier and produced by Luc Besson. It is the sequel to The Transporter . It is itself followed by Transporter 3 ....
and Transporter 3
Transporter 3
Transporter 3 is a 2008 French-English action film, and is the third installment in the Transporter film series, as well as the first not to be distributed by 20th Century Fox in the United States. Both Jason Statham and François Berléand reprised their roles, as Frank Martin and Tarconi,...
. A television series
Transporter: The Series
Transporter: The Series is an upcoming action television series, based on the Transporter film series by Luc Besson. It is co-produced by HBO, HBO Canada, French TV-channel M6 and German television company RTL, which, with the exception of HBO, will also air the series...
has also been announced.
The film's popularity and success made Statham a popular action star
Action hero
An action hero is a character, usually a protagonist, in an action-adventure novel, film, television show, or game.-Further reading:*Osgerby, Bill, Anna Gough-Yates, and Marianne Wells. Action TV : Tough-Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks. London: Routledge, 2001.*Tasker, Yvonne. Action and...
.
Plot
Frank Martin (Jason StathamJason Statham
Jason Statham born 12 September1967) is an English actor and former diver, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Revolver, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels...
) 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
Matt Schulze
Matthew Steven "Matt" Schulze is an American actor and musician.-Early life:Schulze was born and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. At age 16, he moved to Atlanta, where he studied guitar at the Atlanta Institute of Music. He moved to Los Angeles in 1992 to be a studio musician, but ended up doing...
) 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
François Berléand
François Berléand is a French actor.Berléand was born in Paris, France of . He plays Gilles Triquet, the officer manager and equivalent of David Brent in Le Bureau, the French version of The Office, produced by Canal+. He released a book about his childhood in 2006, Le fils de l'homme invisible...
) 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 unceremoniously 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 one of the two containers of hostages being freed and Frank and Lai reuniting happily.
Cast
- Jason StathamJason StathamJason Statham born 12 September1967) is an English actor and former diver, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Revolver, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels...
as Frank Martin/The Transporter - Shu QiShu QiShu Qi is the stage name of a Taiwanese actress born Lin Li-Hui . Her stage name is occasionally romanized as Hsu Chi or Shu Kei . Her name is sometimes seen in the Western order as Qi Shu.-Early life:...
as Lai Kwai - François BerléandFrançois BerléandFrançois Berléand is a French actor.Berléand was born in Paris, France of . He plays Gilles Triquet, the officer manager and equivalent of David Brent in Le Bureau, the French version of The Office, produced by Canal+. He released a book about his childhood in 2006, Le fils de l'homme invisible...
as Inspector Tarconi - Matt SchulzeMatt SchulzeMatthew Steven "Matt" Schulze is an American actor and musician.-Early life:Schulze was born and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. At age 16, he moved to Atlanta, where he studied guitar at the Atlanta Institute of Music. He moved to Los Angeles in 1992 to be a studio musician, but ended up doing...
as Darren "Wall Street" Bettencourt - Didier Saint Melin as Boss
- Doug Rand as Leader
- Ric YoungRic Young- Selected Filmography :- External links :...
as Mr. Kwai - Adrian DearnellAdrian DearnellAdrian Dearnell , a Franco-American financial journalist, is the founder and CEO of EuroBusiness Media, and former anchorman for several TV and radio stations such as Bloomberg TV.- Biography :...
as Newscaster - Vincent TulliVincent TulliVincent Tulli was born in Paris, 5 February 1966. He is a sound mixer and a sound designer. He is also an actor.-Films:* 2009 : Chanel & Stravinsky by Jan Kounen...
as Thug (uncredited)
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-rayBlu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
format was released on November 14, 2006.
Critical response
The Transporter has received a mixed critical reception. Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
has the film at an average rating of 53% and Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
has it listed at 51%.
The consensus is that "The Transporter delivers the action at the expense of coherent storytelling."
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with A.O. Scott. She was formerly a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice. She has written for a variety of publications, including Film Comment and...
, of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, complimented the action, saying, "[Statham] certainly seems equipped to develop into a mid-weight alternative to Vin Diesel
Vin Diesel
Vin Diesel is an American actor, writer, director and producer. He became known in the early 2000s, appearing in several successful Hollywood films, including The Fast and the Furious and xXx...
. That's particularly true if he keeps working with director Corey Yuen
Corey Yuen
Corey Yuen Kwai is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker and producer. He was a member of the Peking Opera Schools and one of the Seven Little Fortunes.-Life and career:...
, a Hong Kong action veteran whose talent for hand-to-hand mayhem is truly something to see."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
took the opposite stance, stating, "Too much action brings the movie to a dead standstill."
Eric Harrison, of the Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...
, says, "It's junk with a capital J. The sooner you realize that, the more quickly you can settle down to enjoying it."