Transporter (franchise)

Transporter (French: Le Transporteur) is a French action thriller film franchise, comprising four films released between 2002 and 2015, and a television series. Jason Statham plays Frank Martin in the first three movies, a professional freelance courier driver for hire. Statham is an accomplished martial artist, allowing him to do all the combat scenes involving Frank Martin himself. This permits the films' signature Hong Kong-style fight scenes, choreographed by Corey Yuen. Chris Vance portrays Frank Martin in the sequel television series and Ed Skrein portrays Frank Martin in the fourth film, a reboot.

Transporter
DVD set containing the first three films
Created by	Luc Besson Robert Mark Kamen
Films and television
Film(s)	The Transporter (2002) Transporter 2 (2005) Transporter 3 (2008) The Transporter Refueled (2015)
Television series	Transporter: The Series (2012–2014)
Audio
Soundtrack(s)	The Transporter Transporter 2 Transporter 3

Background

Frank Martin

Frank Martin is the protagonist of the films and television series. He initially serves as a reluctant hero. He is portrayed as a former Special Forces operative who was a team leader of a search and destroy unit. His military background includes operations "in and out of" Lebanon, Syria and Sudan. He retires from this after becoming fatigued and disenchanted with his superior officers. In simple terms, he got tired of seeing his best efforts turned to nothing by the same people paying him to do the job. So he puts his skills to action as a private driver for hire.

Films

The Transporter (2002)

Frank Martin (Jason Statham) is a highly-skilled driver known only as "The Transporter." He will transport anything, no questions asked, always on time, and he is known as the best in the business. He strictly follows three rules when transporting: Rule Number 1: "Once the deal is made, it is final", Rule Number 2: "No names", and Rule Number 3: "Never open the package." Frank inadvertently breaks his own rule, opens the package and finds a bound and gagged woman.

Transporter 2 (2005)

Frank has been hired as the driver/chauffeur for a wealthy family, in Miami, Florida. Martin bonds with their young son, whom he drives to school every day. When the boy is kidnapped, Frank must again act in order to protect his young "package" and his family. Eventually, Martin unravels a scheme involving biological weapons and the nefarious Gianni Chellini. Martin is forced to remove a bomb from the bottom of his car by executing an aerial corkscrew manoeuver underneath a crane. The crane catches the bomb and Martin escapes unharmed. Frank debuts the Audi A8 W12 in this film.

Inspector Tarconi plays an even more prominent role in this film. It is established that he and Frank are now friends, and Tarconi goes as far as to lie to the police to cover for Frank. His cooking prowess is established as well.

Transporter 3 (2008)

Frank has been pressured into transporting Valentina (Natalya Rudakova) the kidnapped daughter of Leonid Vasilev (Jeroen Krabbé), the head of the Environmental Protection Agency for Ukraine, from Marseille through Stuttgart and Budapest until he ends up in Odessa on the Black Sea. Along the way, with the help of Inspector Tarconi (François Berléand), Frank has to contend with the people who strong armed him to take the job, agents sent by Vasilev to intercept him, and the general non-cooperation of his passenger, who he realises is the package midway through the film. Despite Valentina's cynical disposition and Frank's resistance to get involved, Frank and Valentina fall for each other, while escaping from one life-threatening situation after another. Martin again drives an armoured Audi A8 W12 in the film, as well as a BMX bicycle.

The Transporter Refueled (2015)

In May 2013, at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, a new reboot trilogy was announced with EuropaCorp and China's Fundamental Films co-producing and distributing the titles.[1][2] The films will likely be budgeted between $30 million to $40 million each and at least one will be shot in China.[3] Luc Besson will co-finance, distribute, produce and write all the films.[4] English actor Ed Skrein replaced Jason Statham as Frank Martin on the fourth installment of the series.[5] The fourth film, The Transporter Refueled, was released in the United States on 4 September 2015 with Camille Delamarre directing.

Collateral (2004)

In an interview with IGN, Louis Leterrier confirmed Jason Statham's cameo appearance in Collateral, providing a briefcase to Vincent (Tom Cruise), as having been a reprisal of Frank Martin.[6]

Future

The Hollywood Reporter report that EuropaCorp and Fundamental Films will co-finance, produce and distribute the next three future installments in the Transporter franchise. The projects will be budgeted from $30 million to $40 million; at least one of the films will likely shoot in China.[7]

Television

Transporter: The Series (2012–2014)

Transporter: The Series is a television series based on the Transporter films which premiered in 2012 on 11 October in Germany on RTL, and on 6 December in France on M6. Chris Vance took over the role of Frank from Jason Statham and was joined by Hungarian actress Andrea Osvárt, who played Carla, the leading female role in the series,[8] starring as a former Intelligence agent who organises his missions, and French actor François Berléand, the only returning actor from the film series, who reprised his role as Inspector Tarconi.[9] The show was initially supposed to premiere on the cable network Cinemax but Cinemax pulled out due to production problems. TNT picked up the show and aired the 12-episode first season on the TNT network. TNT also ordered a 12-episode second season which aired in the autumn of 2014.[10]

Cast and crew

Principal cast

Character	Original series			Spin-off film	Reboot film	Transporter: The Series
	The Transporter	Transporter 2	Transporter 3	Collateral	The Transporter Refueled	Season 1	Season 2
	2002	2005	2008	2004	2015	2012 – 2013	2014
Frank "The Transporter" Martin	Jason Statham				Ed Skrein	Chris Vance
Inspector Marcelle Tarconi	François Berléand					François Berléand
Lai Kwai	Shu Qi
Darren "Wall Street" Bettencourt	Matt Schulze
Mr. Kwai	Ric Young
Vincent		Max Osterweis		Tom Cruise
Gianni Chellini		Alessandro Gassman
Audrey Billings		Amber Valletta
Lola		Kate Nauta
Stappleton		Keith David
Jack Billings		Hunter Clary
Max		Shannon Briggs
Valentina Vasileva			Natalya Rudakova
Johnson			Robert Knepper
Leonid Tomilenko			Jeroen Krabbé
Leonid's Aide			Alex Kobold
Malcom Manville			David Atrakchi
Flag			Yann Sundberg
Ice			Eriq Ebouaney
Max Durocher				Jamie Foxx
Annie Farrell				Jada Pinkett Smith
Ray Fanning				Mark Ruffalo
Richard Weidner				Peter Berg
Frank Pedrosa				Bruce McGill
Ida Durocher				Irma P. Hall
Daniel Baker				Barry Shabaka Henley
Felix Reyes-Torrena				Javier Bardem
Paco				Emilio Rivera
Frank Martin Sr.					Ray Stevenson		Mentioned
Anna					Loan Chabanol
María					Tatjana Pajković
Gina					Gabriella Wright
Qiao					Wenxia Yu
Arkady Karasov					Radivoje Bukvić
Maissa					Noémie Lenoir
Dieter Hausmann						Charly Hübner
Carla Valeri						Andrea Osvárt
Juliette Dubois						Delphine Chanéac
Caterina "Cat" Boldieu							Violante Placido
Jules Faroux							Mark Rendall
Olivier Dassin							Dhaffer L'Abidine
Zara Knight							Elyse Levesque

Additional crew

Crew member	The Transporter (2002)	Transporter 2 (2005)	Transporter 3 (2008)	The Transporter Refueled (2015)
Director	Corey Yuen	Louis Leterrier	Olivier Megaton	Camille Delamarre
Producer(s)	Luc Besson Stephen Chasman			Mark Gao Luc Besson
Writer(s)	Luc Besson Robert Mark Kamen			Adam Cooper Bill Collage Luc Besson
Composer	Stanley Clarke	Alexandre Azaria
Editor	Pierre Morel	Christine Lucas-Navarro Vincent Tabaillon	Camille Delamarre Carlo Rizzo	Julien Rey
Cinematographer	Nicolas Trembasiewicz	Mitchell Amundsen	Giovanni Fiore Coltellacci	Christophe Collette
Production company(s)	EuropaCorp TF1 Films Current Entertainment Canal+	EuropaCorp TF1 Films Current Entertainment Canal+ TPS Star	EuropaCorp TF1 Films Current Entertainment Grive Productions Apipoulaï Prod. Canal+	EuropaCorp TF1 Films Belga Films Relativity Media Canal+
Distributor	20th Century Fox		Lionsgate Films	EuropaCorp
Runtime	92 minutes	87 minutes	104 minutes	96 minutes
Release date	11 October 2002	2 September 2005	26 November 2008	4 September 2015

Reception

Box office performance

Film	Release date	Box office gross			Box office ranking		Budget	Ref.
		North America	Other territories	Worldwide	All time North America	All time worldwide
The Transporter	11 October 2002	$25,296,447	$18,632,485	$43,928,932	#2,660		$21,000,000	[11]
Transporter 2	2 September 2005	$43,095,856	$42,071,783	$85,167,639	#1,701		$32,000,000	[12]
Transporter 3	26 November 2008	$31,715,062	$77,264,487	$108,979,549	#2,284		$30,000,000	[13]
The Transporter Refueled	4 September 2015	$16,029,670	$56,600,000	$72,629,670	#3,669		$22,000,000	[14]
Total		$116,137,035	$194,568,755	$310,705,790			$105,000,000	[15]

Critical and public response

Film	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic	CinemaScore
The Transporter	54% (127 reviews)[16]	51 (27 reviews)[17]	B+[18]
Transporter 2	52% (121 reviews)[19]	56 (29 reviews)[20]	B+[18]
Transporter 3	39% (113 reviews)[21]	51 (26 reviews)[22]	B−[18]
The Transporter Refueled	16% (100 reviews)[23]	31 (19 reviews)[24]	B−[18]

References

1. "'Transporter' sequels announced at Cannes Film Festival". digitalspy.co.uk. 22 May 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
2. "Cannes 2013: Three New Films In The Transporter Franchise Announced". empireonline.com. 22 May 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
3. "New Transporter trilogy bound for big screen with parts 4 5 and 6 announced". metro.co.uk. 22 May 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
4. "Sequel Bits: 'Transformers 4', 'Expendables 3', 'Transporter 4-6', 'The Hobbit', 'Anchorman 2', 'Pacific Rim 2'". slashfilm.com. 21 May 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
5. "Transporter 4 will star Ed Skrein in Jason Statham role". theguardian.com. 10 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
6. Carle, Chris (31 August 2005). "Louis Leterrier Interviewed". Filmforce.ign.com. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
7. "'Cannes: Three New 'Transporter' Films in the Works". hollywoodreporter.com. 19 May 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
8. Andreeva, Nellie (20 May 2011). "Cinemax's 'Transporter' Series Casts Male & Female Leads". Deadline Hollywood.
9. Goldberg, Lesley (23 June 2011). "'Transporter': 'Lost's' Stephen Williams to Helm Pilot (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Los Angeles, California.
10. Roxborough, Scott (8 April 2014). "MIPTV: 'Transporter' Series Reboot for TNT Heavy on Action". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
11. "The Transporter (2002)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
12. "Transporter 2 (2005)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
13. "Transporter 3 (2008)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
14. "The Transporter Refueled (2015)". The Numbers. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
15. "Franchise: Transporter". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
16. "The Transporter (2002)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
17. "The Transporter Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
18. "CinemaScore". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on 2018-12-20.
19. "Transporter 2 (2005)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
20. "Transporter 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
21. "Transporter 3 (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
22. "Transporter 3 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
23. "The Transporter Refueled reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
24. "The Transporter Refueled reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved September 6, 2015.

External links

• The Transporter at the Internet Movie Database
• Transporter 2 at the Internet Movie Database
• Transporter 3 at the Internet Movie Database
• Transporter: The Series at the Internet Movie Database
• The Original Transporter Movie Website