Transporter (franchise)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Transporter
The transporter.svg
Franchise logo
Created byLuc Besson
Robert Mark Kamen
OwnerEuropaCorp
Films and television
Film(s)
Television seriesTransporter: The Series (2012–2014)
Audio
Soundtrack(s)
  • The Transporter
  • Transporter 2
  • Transporter 3

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.

Background[]

Frank Martin[]

Frank Martin is the protagonist of the films and television series. He is portrayed as a former Special Forces operative who was a team leader of a search and destroy unit, with a military background includes operations "in and out of" Lebanon, Syria and Sudan, as well as a recipient of the Bronze Star in the inaugural film. He retires from service after becoming fatigued and disenchanted with his superior officers, and utilizes his skills as a private driver for hire while maintaining an apparently legitimate life living off of his army pension. Frank 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 media installments of the franchise. In the television series, it was revealed that he was orphaned as a child, who 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 retired away from London to work on his relationship with his son.

Films[]

DVD set containing the first three films

The Transporter (2002)[]

Main article: The Transporter

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)[]

Main article: Transporter 2

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)[]

Main article: Transporter 3

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 getting 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)[]

Main article: The Transporter Refueled

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)[]

Main article: Collateral (film)

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]

America: The Motion Picture (2021)[]

Main article: America: The Motion Picture

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.[7]

Future[]

The Hollywood Reporter reported in 2013 that EuropaCorp and Fundamental Films will co-finance, produce, and distribute three future installments in the Transporter franchise. The projects would be budgeted from $30 million to $40 million; at least one of the films was likely to be set in China.[8] However no additional information on sequels has been given since the lesser performance 2015's Refueled.

Television[]

Transporter: The Series (2012–2014)[]

Main article: Transporter: The Series

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,[9] 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.[10]

The series was intended to premiere on Cinemax but they pulled out due to production problems. TNT picked it up and aired both seasons.[11]

Cast and crew[]

Principal cast[]

Character Original series Spin-off film Reboot film Transporter: The Series America: The Motion Picture
The Transporter Transporter 2 Transporter 3 Collateral Refueled Season 1 Season 2
2002 2005 2008 2004 2015 2012 – 2013 2014 2021
Frank Martin Jr.
The Transporter 		Jason Statham Ed Skrein Chris Vance Zebbie Gillese
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  
George Washington   Channing Tatum
Sam Adams   Jason Mantzoukas
Thomas Edison   Olivia Munn
Paul Revere   Bobby Moynihan
Martha Washington   Judy Greer
Abe Lincoln   Will Forte
Geronimo   Raoul Trujillo
John Henry   Killer Mike
King James   Simon Pegg
Benedict "Cosby" Arnold   Andy Samberg
Clyde   Carlos Alazraqui
I.M. Pei   Dave Callaham

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 [12]
Transporter 2 2 September 2005 $43,095,856 $42,071,783 $85,167,639 #1,701 $32,000,000 [13]
Transporter 3 26 November 2008 $31,715,062 $77,264,487 $108,979,549 #2,284 $30,000,000[citation needed] [14]
The Transporter Refueled 4 September 2015 $16,029,670 $56,600,000 $72,629,670 #3,669 $22,000,000 [15]
Total $116,137,035 $194,568,755 $310,705,790 $105,000,000 [16]

Critical and public response[]

Film Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic CinemaScore
The Transporter 54% (127 reviews)[17] 51 (27 reviews)[18] B+[19]
Transporter 2 52% (121 reviews)[20] 56 (29 reviews)[21] B+[19]
Transporter 3 39% (113 reviews)[22] 51 (26 reviews)[23] B−[19]
The Transporter Refueled 16% (100 reviews)[24] 31 (19 reviews)[25] B−[19]

References[]

  1. ^ "'Transporter' sequels announced at Cannes Film Festival". Digital Spy. 22 May 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  2. ^ "Cannes 2013: Transporter 4-6 Announced". Empire Magazine. 22 May 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  3. ^ "New Transporter trilogy bound for big screen with parts 4 5 and 6 announced". Metro. 22 May 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  4. ^ "Sequel Bits: 'Transformers 4', 'Expendables 3', 'Transporter 4-6', 'The Hobbit', 'Anchorman 2', 'Pacific Rim 2'". /Film. 21 May 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  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". IGN. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  7. ^ McFarland, Melanie (30 June 2021). "Bro, say can you see? "America: The Motion Picture" shows we're not just dumb, we're drawn that way". Salon. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  8. ^ "'Cannes: Three New 'Transporter' Films in the Works". The Hollywood Reporter. 19 May 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  9. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (20 May 2011). "Cinemax's 'Transporter' Series Casts Male & Female Leads". Deadline Hollywood.
  10. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (23 June 2011). "'Transporter': 'Lost's' Stephen Williams to Helm Pilot (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Los Angeles, California.
  11. ^ Roxborough, Scott (8 April 2014). "MIPTV: 'Transporter' Series Reboot for TNT Heavy on Action". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  12. ^ "The Transporter (2002)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  13. ^ "Transporter 2 (2005)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  14. ^ "Transporter 3 (2008)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  15. ^ "The Transporter Refueled (2015)". The Numbers. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  16. ^ "Franchise: Transporter". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  17. ^ "The Transporter (2002)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  18. ^ "The Transporter Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  19. ^ a b c d "CinemaScore". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on 2018-12-20.
  20. ^ "Transporter 2 (2005)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  21. ^ "Transporter 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  22. ^ "Transporter 3 (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  23. ^ "Transporter 3 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  24. ^ "The Transporter Refueled reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  25. ^ "The Transporter Refueled reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved September 6, 2015.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""