Transporter | |
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Created by | Luc Besson Robert Mark Kamen |
Owner | EuropaCorp |
Films and television | |
Film(s) |
|
Television series | Transporter: The Series (2012–2014) |
Audio | |
Soundtrack(s) |
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. Chris Vance portrays Martin in the sequel television series, and Ed Skrein portrays him in the fourth film, a reboot.
Frank Martin is the protagonist of the films and television series. He is portrayed as a former Special Forces operative who was team leader of a search and destroy unit, with a military background including operations "in and out of" Lebanon, Syria and Sudan, as well as a recipient of the Bronze Star. He retires from service after becoming fatigued and disenchanted with his superior officers, and uses his skills as a private driver for hire while maintaining an apparently legitimate life living off of his army pension. Martin operates in accordance with a strict code of conduct, and expects his clients to adhere to his rules. The character is portrayed with varied backgrounds in different installments of the franchise. In the television series, it is revealed that he was orphaned as a child, enlisted in the British Army as an adult and later transferred to Special Air Service. In the film, The Transporter Refueled , his father Frank Martin Sr. is a former British spy who retires to work on his relationship with his son.
Frank Martin (Jason Statham) is a British mercenary driver living in France known only as "The Transporter"; he will transport anything, no questions asked, always on time, and 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. As a result, he finds himself involved in a human trafficking plot.
Martin is hired as the driver for the wealthy family of politician Jefferson Billings in Miami, Florida. Frank bonds with his young son, whom he drives to school every day. When the boy is kidnapped, Frank acts in order to protect his young "package" and his family. Eventually, he unravels a scheme involving an international drugs cartel and biological weapons. Inspector Tarconi plays a 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.
Frank is pressured into transporting Valentina (Natalya Rudakova) the kidnapped daughter of Leonid Vasilev (Jeroen Krabbé), head of the Environmental Protection Agency for Ukraine, from Marseille through Stuttgart and Budapest until he ends up in Odesa 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 getting involved, Frank and Valentina fall for each other, while escaping from one life-threatening situation after another.
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 were to be budgeted between $30 million to $40 million each and at least one was planned to be shot in China. [3] [4] Luc Besson will co-finance, distribute, produce and write all the films. [5] English actor Ed Skrein replaced Jason Statham as Frank Martin on the fourth installment of the series. [6] The fourth film, The Transporter Refueled , directed by Camille Delamarre, was released in the United States on 4 September 2015.
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, [7] 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. [8] The series was intended to premiere on Cinemax but they pulled out due to production problems. TNT picked it up and aired both seasons. [9]
Character | Original series | Reboot | Transporter: The Series | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Transporter | Transporter 2 | Transporter 3 | The Transporter Refueled | Season 1 | Season 2 | ||
2002 | 2005 | 2008 | 2015 | 2012-13 | 2014 | ||
Frank Martin The Transporter | 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 | ||||||
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 | ||||||
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 | ||||||
Crew member | The Transporter (2002) | Transporter 2 (2005) | Transporter 3 (2008) | The Transporter Refueled (2015) |
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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 | Luc Besson, Adam Cooper & Bill Collage | ||
Composer | Stanley Clarke | Alexandre Azaria | ||
Editor | Pierre Morel | Vincent Tabaillon & Christine Lucas-Navarro | Carlo Rizzo & Camille Delamarre | Julien Rey |
Cinematographer | Nicolas Trembasiewicz | Mitchell Amundsen | Giovanni Fiore Coltellacci | Christophe Collette |
Production company(s) | Canal+ TF1 Films EuropaCorp Current Entertainment | Canal+ TPS Star TF1 Films EuropaCorp Current Entertainment | Canal+ TF1 Films EuropaCorp Apipoulaï Prod. Grive Productions Current Entertainment | Canal+ TF1 Films EuropaCorp Belga Films Relativity Media |
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 |
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 | [10] | |
Transporter 2 | 2 September 2005 | $43,095,856 | $42,071,783 | $85,167,639 | #1,701 | $32,000,000 | [11] | |
Transporter 3 | 26 November 2008 | $31,715,062 | $77,264,487 | $108,979,549 | #2,284 | $40,000,000 | [12] [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 | $115,000,000 | [15] [16] |
Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
---|---|---|---|
The Transporter | 54% (128 reviews) [17] | 51 (27 reviews) [18] | B+ [19] |
Transporter 2 | 52% (122 reviews) [20] | 56 (29 reviews) [21] | B+ [19] |
Transporter 3 | 40% (115 reviews) [22] | 51 (26 reviews) [23] | B− [19] |
The Transporter Refueled | 15% (105 reviews) [24] | 32 (24 reviews) [25] | B− [19] |
Jason Statham made a small appearance in the 2004 film Collateral , credited as "Airport Man". Louis Leterrier, co-director of the 2002 action film The Transporter , interpreted Statham's scene as a portrayal of his Transporter character Frank Martin. [26]
Zebbie Gillese voices Frank Martin / Transporter in the 2021 Netflix original film America: The Motion Picture , in which he is depicted as the stagecoach driver of Benedict "Cosby" Arnold. [27]
In 2024, Statham starred in an advertising campaign of the new Volkswagen Transporter van. [28] As a reference to his Transporter role, the commercial shows a package being delivered. "The Transporter needed" and later "The Transporter is back" is shown. [29]
Jason Statham is an English actor and producer. He is known for portraying tough, gritty, or violent characters in various action thriller films, and has been credited for leading the resurgence of action films during the 2000s and 2010s. By 2017, his films had grossed over £1.1 billion, making him one of the industry's most bankable stars.
Richard Stuart Linklater is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for making films that deal thematically with suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies Slacker (1990) and Dazed and Confused (1993); the Before trilogy of romance films: Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013); the music-themed comedy School of Rock (2003); the adult animated films Waking Life (2001), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022); the coming-of-age drama Boyhood (2014); the comedy film Everybody Wants Some!! (2016); and the romantic comedy Hit Man (2023).
Collateral is a 2004 American neo-noir action thriller film directed and produced by Michael Mann, written by Stuart Beattie, and starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. The supporting cast includes Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg, Javier Bardem, and Bruce McGill. The film follows Max Durocher (Foxx), a Los Angeles cab driver, and his customer, Vincent (Cruise). When offered a high fare for driving to several locations, Max agrees but soon finds himself taken hostage by Vincent who turns out to be a hitman on a contract killing spree.
The Transporter is a 2002 English-language French action film directed by Corey Yuen and Louis Leterrier from a screenplay by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. It is the first installment in the Transporter franchise and stars Jason Statham in the title role, alongside Shu Qi, François Berléand and Matt Schulze. In the film, Frank Martin, a British mercenary driver living in France, finds himself involved in a human trafficking plot.
Transporter 2 is a 2005 English-language French action film directed by Louis Leterrier and written by Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen. It is the sequel to The Transporter (2002) and the second installment in the Transporter franchise, followed by Transporter 3 (2008) and The Transporter Refueled, also called Transporter 4 (2015). It stars Jason Statham as Frank Martin, with Alessandro Gassmann, Amber Valletta, Kate Nauta, François Berléand, Matthew Modine, and Jason Flemyng. In the film, Frank Martin (Statham) is tasked with protecting the young son of politician Jefferson Billings (Modine) from an international drugs cartel.
David Ayer is an American filmmaker known for making crime films that are set in Los Angeles and deal with gangs and police corruption. His screenplays include Training Day (2001), The Fast and the Furious (2001), and S.W.A.T. (2003). He has also directed Harsh Times (2005), Street Kings (2008), End of Watch (2012), Sabotage (2014), and The Beekeeper (2024). In 2016, he directed the superhero movie Suicide Squad from the DC Extended Universe, and then the urban fantasy film Bright (2017) for Netflix. He has twice collaborated with actor Shia LaBeouf: first with the World War II drama Fury (2014), then the crime thriller The Tax Collector (2020). He has also collaborated with his friend Cle Shaheed Sloan who has appeared in four of his films.
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François Berléand is a French actor.
Transporter 3 is a 2008 French action film directed by Olivier Megaton. It is the final installment in the original trilogy of the Transporter franchise, but not the last movie, since it was succeeded by The Transporter Refueled, also called Transporter 4 (2015). Jason Statham and François Berléand reprise their roles as Frank Martin and Inspector Tarconi. Frank Martin returns to France in order to continue his low-key business of delivering packages without question. Transporter 3 grossed $112.9 million, making it the highest-grossing film in the trilogy.
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David Atrakchi is an actor best known for his role of Malcolm Manville in Transporter 3. He played Lanyon in the 2011 thriller Faces in the Crowd. He was an actor and co-producer of Frank & Lola, a 2016 noir love story written and directed by Matthew Ross. Most recently David is featured as an android in Detroit: Become Human, an adventure game blockbuster developed by Quantic Dream and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 4, released worldwide on 25 May 2018.
Transporter: The Series is an action-thriller television series, a spinoff of the Transporter film series created by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, with Chris Vance taking over the role of Frank Martin for the series. It was co-produced by the French Atlantique Productions and the Canadian boutique entertainment company QVF, Inc. The series was broadcast by M6, RTL Television, The Movie Network, and Movie Central. Originally, HBO and Cinemax were involved, but they dropped out in 2013.
Edward George Skrein is an English actor, filmmaker, and rapper. He rose to recognition as the supervillain Francis Freeman / Ajax in the superhero comedy film Deadpool (2016). He also starred in the films The Transporter: Refueled (2015), Alita: Battle Angel (2019), Midway (2019), Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire (2023) and Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver (2024).
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Hillsong: Let Hope Rise is a 2016 American Christian documentary film on Hillsong United directed by Michael John Warren. The film was released on 16 September 2016, by Pure Flix Entertainment after several delays.
The Transporter Refueled is a 2015 action thriller film directed by Camille Delamarre and written by Bill Collage, Adam Cooper, and Luc Besson. It serves as a reboot and the fourth film in the Transporter franchise. It stars Ed Skrein as Frank Martin, alongside Ray Stevenson, Loan Chabanol, Gabriella Wright, Tatjana Pajković, Yu Wenxia, Radivoje Bukvić, Lenn Kudrjawizki, Anatole Taubman, and Noémie Lenoir. In the film, Frank finds himself caught up in a bank heist and kidnapping plot orchestrated by Anna (Chabanol).
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Loan Chabanol is a French-American actress, artist, and model. She is best known for her role in John Turturro's comedy Fading Gigolo, the romantic drama Third Person, the action thriller The Transporter Refueled and the horror drama anthology TV series Tales of the Walking Dead.
Transporter Refueled earned a B- CinemaScore on par with the third installment