| The Transporter | |
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 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | |
| Screenplay by | |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Pierre Morel |
| Edited by | Nicolas Trembasiewicz |
| Music by | |
Production companies |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 92 minutes[2] |
| Country | France[3] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20.5 million[4] |
| Box office | $43.9 million[5] |
The Transporter (French:Le Transporteur) is a 2002 English-language Frenchaction film directed byLouis Leterrier andCorey Yuen[a] from a screenplay byLuc Besson andRobert Mark Kamen. It is the first installment in theTransporter franchise and starsJason Statham in the title role, alongsideShu Qi,François Berléand, andMatt Schulze. In the film,Frank Martin, a British mercenary driver living inFrance, finds himself involved in ahuman trafficking plot.
The Transporter premiered at theRegency Village Theatre inLos Angeles on October 2, 2002, and was first theatrically released in the United States on October 11, 2002, by20th Century Fox, in France on 23 October byEuropaCorp, and in the UK on January 17, 2003.[6] It received mixed reviews from critics with praise for its action sequences and Statham's performance. It grossed $43.9 million worldwide and was followed by a sequel,Transporter 2, in 2005.
Frank Martin, a former highly decoratedspecial operations soldier, is a highly skilled driver for illicit jobs in southernFrance who follows three strict rules: never change the deal, no names, and never open the package.
InNice, Frank is hired as the getaway driver for three bank robbers, but they bring a fourth man. Explaining that the extra weight will affect his escape, Frank refuses to drive until the leader kills and abandons one of his men. After evading police in a chase, the leader offers more money to drive toAvignon, but Frank declines; the robbers continue their escape in another car but are later foiled by amateur driving. Police inspector Tarconi pays a visit to Frank's secluded coastal house to question him about his car, seen at the scene, but Frank has disposed of all evidence.
Frank is hired to deliver a package to Darren "Wall Street" Bettencourt. While changing a flat tire, he realizes it contains a person — a bound, gagged woman. She tries to escape, but Frank recaptures her and subdues two police officers who see them. He delivers her as promised, gets paid and accepts another assignment on the spot. Bettencourt instructs him to deliver a briefcase to an address in Grenoble. When he stops for refreshments, a bomb in the briefcase explodes.
A vengeful Frank returns to Wall Street's villa, kills henchmen, and steals one of his cars. He finds "the package" in the back seat, so he takes her to his home, where she tells her name is Lai. Wall Street visits a survivor in the hospital and kills him after finding out Frank is alive. Tarconi questions Frank about his car bombing, which he claims was stolen; Lai supports his alibi, saying she's his girlfriend. Wall Street's men attack withmissiles andautomatic weapons, but Frank and Lai escape through an underwater passage to a safe house, where Lai seduces Frank.
Later, while being questioned at the police station by Tarconi, Lai accesses his computer to find information on Wall Street. She reveals that he is ahuman trafficker with other Chinese immigrants trapped in shipping containers, and Frank reluctantly agrees to help. They confront Wall Street at his office, where Lai's father, Mr. Kwai, is revealed to be his partner in crime. Tarconi arrives as Wall Street subdues Frank and accuses him of kidnapping Lai, and Frank is arrested.
Tarconi suggests Frank pretend to be his hostage to escape the police. Frank finds a weapons stash atCassis, then tracks criminals to Marseille docks. After fighting off thugs at a bus depot, he escapes into the water, steals a car, and chases at dawn before it breaks down. He then hijacks a small airplane and parachutes onto the highway.
After a lengthy fight on the moving trucks, Frank throws Wall Street onto the road, where he is crushed by the wheels, only to be held at gunpoint by Kwai. He marches Frank to the edge of a cliff, but Lai shoots her father to save Frank, as Tarconi and the police rescue the people from the containers.
In August 2001, it was reported thatLuc Besson would produce, finance, and co-write a script withRobert Mark Kamen calledThe Transporter which had been written as a vehicle forJason Statham withCorey Yuen set to make his English language directorial debut after working as anaction director on productions such as Besson'sKiss of the Dragon.[7]
The film was inspired by the short film seriesThe Hire, which was produced as a promotional effort byBMW.
Filming took place in on-location in theSouth of France: inNice,Cassis,Saint-Tropez,Marseille, andCannes. Statham performed most of his own physical and driving stunts.Shu Qi spoke almost no English when she was cast, and had to learn most of her lines phonetically. DirectorLouis Leterrier originally intended Martin to be gay.[8] However, this angle was dropped during filming, and a sex scene between Martin and Lai was added.[9]
The Transporter premiered in 2,573 theaters. With a production budget of $20.5 million,[4] it grossed $25,296,447 in the United States and a total of $43,928,932 worldwide.[5]
The film was cut to receive aPG-13 rating in theUnited States, and this version was also released in theUnited Kingdom and several other countries.Japan was the only country besidesFrance to receive the uncut versions. Certain sequences of violence were either cut or toned down for the PG-13 cut. The scenes changed in the American/international release are the fight on the bus, where scenes of Frank using a knife against the opponents were edited, and the scene where he throws Wall Street out of the truck; the French release has him crushed under its wheels, whilst the American/international release has him simply thrown out onto the road.[10]
The film was released on VHS and DVD on 15 April 2003, and onBlu-ray on 14 November 2006.
† indicates that the song did not appear in the film
The original score were composed byStanley Clarke andAlexandre Azaria (for "Love Rescue" and "Transfighter").
Review aggregation websiteRotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 54% based on 128reviews, with an average rating of 5.6/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "The Transporter delivers the action at the expense of coherent storytelling."[13] AtMetacritic, the film received a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[14] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[15]
Manohla Dargis, of theLos Angeles Times, complimented the action, saying, "[Statham] certainly seems equipped to develop into a mid-weight alternative toVin Diesel. That's particularly true if he keeps working with directorCorey Yuen, a Hong Kong action veteran whose talent for hand-to-hand mayhem is truly something to see."[16]Roger Ebert wrote, "Too much action brings the movie to a dead standstill."[17] Eric Harrison, of theHouston Chronicle, said, "It's junk with a capital J. The sooner you realize that, the more quickly you can settle down to enjoying it."[18]
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