The Transporter

Infobox Film
name = The Transporter


caption = "The Transporter" film poster
director = Louis Leterrier & Corey Yuen
writer = Luc Besson
Robert Mark Kamen
starring = Jason Statham
Shu Qi
Matt Schulze
François Berléand
roducer = Luc Besson
Stephen Chasman
music = Stanley Clarke
editing = Nicolas Trembasiewicz
cinematography = Pierre Morel
distributor = 20th Century Fox
budget = €20,900,000
released = flagicon|France October 2, 2002
flagicon|USA October 11, 2002
runtime = 94 min.
language = English
followed_by = "Transporter 2"
amg_id = 1:265929
imdb_id = 0293662 |

"The Transporter" (French: "Le Transporteur") is a Franco-American action / crime movie directed by Louis Leterrier and 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", which is to be released in 2008.

Plot

The film begins with Frank Martin (Statham), in his black BMW E38 735iL, alone in a parking garage, he proceeds to start his car and drive to the site of his deal. Martin arrives at a building as four armed, masked men emerge, carrying bags filled with money. The four men get into the car; however, Martin refuses to start the car because they have changed the deal, in which it was agreed that there would be only three men. The leader of the men threatens Martin, but due to Martin's car being coded, there is no other option but to shoot one of the men and push him out of the car. A lengthy car chase follows in which Martin's driving skill allows escape from the chasing police cars. At the end of the chase the men offer Martin more money to drive them further, but their offer is refused because "that was not the deal."

Frank is next seen at his home along the coast of Southern France, cleaning his car. His parole officer, Tarconi (Berléand), stops by to inquire if Martin knows anything about a police chase involving the same type car that he owns, that took place the previous day. Martin denies that he does and Tarconi leaves. Martin receives a call from a man who is "looking for a transporter", Martin agrees to meet. Martin meets the man in a bar, where he explains his four rules:

# "Never change the deal"
# "No names"
# "Never open the package"
# "Never make a promise you cannot keep"

A deal is agreed upon. The day of the deal, Martin picks up the package, which is placed in his trunk, and sets off on his route. While on the road, Martin gets a flat tire. He opens the trunk, to retrieve his spare tire, and finds that the package is moving. He pushes the package out of the way, and fixes the flat tire. After eating at a rest stop, he returns to the trunk and, breaking one of his own rules, he opens the package. Inside he finds a girl (Qi) who's hands and barefeet are tied up and she has tape over her mouth. He slits the tape and allows her to drink through a straw. He then removes the tape, she says that she "has to pee," and asks him if he wants her to do so in his trunk. He agrees to let her go into the woods, for one minute. After tying a rope around her neck, he lets her walk into the woods. After one minute passes, Martin follows the rope into the woods to discover that the girl has escaped. He quickly tracks her down, ties her up, gags her, and carries her back to the car, only to find that two police officers looking at his car on the side of the road. He defeats them at hand-to-hand combat, ties them up and puts them both in the trunk, along with the "package."

Martin arrives at the destination and delivers the package to its recipient (Schulze). The recipient asks him if he opened the package. Martin denies that he did. The recipient then asks him if he would mind transporting something for him, Martin accepts the offer. On his way home Martin stops at a rest stop, on his way back to his car it suddenly explodes. Martin returns to the house of the recipient and beats up all of his henchmen. He then steals a Mercedes Benz from the recipients collection of cars, only to discover that hiding in the backseat is the "package" girl. Still gagged with tape and with her hands tied tightly behind her back and secured to the chair and her barefeet tied tightly together. He takes her to his home for the night. He questions her and she tells him that her name is "Lai."

The next morning Tarconi stops by again, and finds Lai, who claims that she is "the new cook." He explains that the police have found Martin's car, which had been blown up the previous day, and that they were still trying to sort out the remains of the two police officers, who had both been killed. Martin claims that his car was stolen, Lai backs him up saying that she picked him up walking alongside the road. Tarconni leaves, telling the couple that they are to come by the station later that day to explain the truth.

A group of men arrive outside Martin's house, they proceed to destroy the house with a bazooka and heavy gunfire, though Martin and Lai are able to escape via an underwater escape route. They swim until they reach another house where they have sex. Later they go to the police station to see Tarconi, they tell him they went for a walk and the house had been destroyed when they had returned. Tarconi leaves and Lai uses his computer to track down her recipient who is Derren Bettencourt, but is only referred to as "Wall Street." They leave the police station, but Tarconi discovers that they had been searching for Wall Street.

Martin tries to walk away, but Lai protests that there are four hundred people being smuggled into the country by Wall Street, inside shipping containers, including her father and her sisters. Martin agrees to help her find him. They come to Wall Street's office, but Martin is surprised when Lai's father is revealed to be an accomplice in the smuggling. Martin is knocked out by one of the henchmen as Tarconi and the police arrive. Unable to defend himself, Martin is arrested. Tarconi questions Martin as to what is going on, Martin replies that people are being smuggled into the country and that if given the opportunity he could catch Wall Street and Lai's father. Tarconi agrees and they stage a hostage situation to get out of the police station and to the docks.

Martin continues alone and finds the shipping crates, in which the people are being smuggled. However, they are being moved and he has no choice but to follow. Martin is discovered by Wall Street who tells his henchmen to kill him. After a lengthy hand-to-hand fight at the shipping yard and at a bus station, Martin hijacks an airplane, he tells the pilot to fly over the trucks transporting the shipping containers. Martin skydives, landing on the containers and after a struggle to gain control of a truck, during which Wall Street is killed, he drives it off to the side of the road and stops it. Lai's father approaches him, holding a gun to his head, and tells Martin to get out and walk. Martin follows these directions, the two have a conversation, during which Lai is heard screaming in the background, which is cut off by a gunshot. As Lai's father aims his gun at Martin, a shot is heard, though it is revealed that Lai has shot her father, and Martin remains unharmed. Tarconi arrives with the police, who open up the shipping container and free the captives within.

Cars

In the film, Jason Statham's character Frank Martin specifically identifies the car as a "1999 Black BMW 735i". In the DVD commentary, however, Jason Statham indicates that the car was a one-off manual-transmission 1999 7-Series 750iL, with a V12 engine.When Martin returns to Wall Street's estate, Frank drives away with a Mercedes-Benz W140 as a compensation for his BMW.

Cast

* Didier Saint Melin as Boss
* Doug Rand as Leader
* François Berléand as Tarconi
* Jason Statham as Frank Martin
* Matt Schulze as Darren "Wall Street" Bettencourt
* Ric Young as Mr. Kwai
* Shu Qi as Lai

Releases

Theatrical Release

The Transporter premiered in 2,573 theaters, grossing $9,107,816 in the United Statescite web | url =http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=transporter.htm| title =The Transporter| accessdate = 2008-02-26] and a total of $43,928,932 worldwide.cite web | url =http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=transporter.htm| title =The Transporter| accessdate = 2008-02-26]

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, during the final fight in the highway, with 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.

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.

Reception

"The Transporter" was released to a mixed critical reception. Rotten Tomatoes has the film at an average rating of 53% [cite web | url =http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/transporter/| title =The Transporter| accessdate = 2008-02-26] and Metacritic has it listed at 51%. [cite web | url =http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/transporter?q=Transporter| title =The Transporter| accessdate = 2008-03-02] The consensus is that "The Transporter" delivers the action at the expense of coherent storytelling." [cite web | url =http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/transporter/| title =The Transporter| accessdate = 2008-02-26] 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 Cory Yuen, a Hong Kong action veteran whose talent for hand-to-hand mayhem is truly something to see." [cite web | url =http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-et-capsules11oct11,0,3535654.story| title ='The Transporter'| accessdate = 2008-02-26] However, Roger Ebert's took the opposite stance stating, "Too much action brings the movie to a dead standstill." [cite web | url =http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20021011/REVIEWS/210110306/1023| title =The Transporter| accessdate = 2008-02-26] 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." [cite web | url =http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ae/movies/reviews/1612210.html| title =The Transporter| accessdate = 2008-02-26]

Miscellaneous

* Prior to the movie, Statham already had a background in martial arts which enabled him to perform his own fight sequences.
* The character, Darren "Wall Street" Bettencourt was named after real life Entertainment Industry executive Darren Bettencourt.
* The movie's title and opening credits slowly materialize on the screen amidst a brilliant array of lights, an apparent inside joke referring to the transporters depicted in the various "Star Trek" television series and movies, which had a similar visual effect.

ee also

* Frank Martin
* Transporter 2
* Transporter 3

References

External links

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* [http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:265929 The Transporter at The All Movie Guide]
* [http://www.cisci.net/film.php?lang=1&display=5&topic=Gases&seq_id=1&film=209 Scientific description of movie scenes on cisci.net]