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The Transporter (French: Le Transporteur) 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.
The Transporter premiered at the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles on October 2, 2002 and was first theatrically released in the United States on October 11, 2002 by 20th Century Fox, in France on 23 October by EuropaCorp, and in the UK on January 17, 2003. 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.
In Nice, Frank is hired as the getaway driver for three bank robbers, but they have brought a fourth man. Explaining that the extra weight will affect his precisely planned escape, Frank refuses to drive until, in desperation, the leader kills and abandons one of his men. After evading police in a high-speed chase, the leader offers Frank more money to drive them to Avignon, but he refuses; the robbers flee in another car, but are foiled by their amateur driving. At Frank's villa on the French Riviera, local French Police Inspector Tarconi questions him about his black BMW 735i, seen at the scene of the robbery, but Frank has carefully disposed of all evidence.
Frank is hired to deliver a package to American client Darren "Wall Street" Bettencourt. While changing a flat tire, Frank realizes the package contains a person; he violates his third rule in order to give the captive something to drink, and discovers a woman bound and gagged. She attempts to escape, but Frank recaptures her and is forced to subdue two policemen who spot them. Frank delivers her to Wall Street as promised, and is given a briefcase to transport. As Frank stops to buy drinks for the cops in his trunk, a bomb in the briefcase explodes.
A vengeful Frank returns to Wall Street's villa, killing several henchmen and stealing a Mercedes-Benz S-Klasse, only to find "the package" hiding in the back seat. He brings the young woman, Lai, to his home, where she discovers he is a decorated former special operations soldier. Wall Street visits one of his surviving men in hospital, killing him after discovering Frank is alive. Tarconi questions Frank about the bombing of his car, which Frank claims was stolen, and Lai supports his alibi by introducing herself as his girlfriend. Tarconi leaves, and Wall Street's men attack the house with missiles and automatic weapons, but Frank and Lai narrowly escape through an underwater passage to a nearby 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 a human trafficker with 400 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 take matters into his own hands, posing as his hostage to allow him to escape police custody. Recovering a weapons stash from his boat at the harbour of Cassis, Frank tracks the criminals to the Marseille docks, where the containers full of people depart on trucks. Chased to a bus depot, Frank fights his way through the thugs in a motor oil-drenched melee before escaping into the water. He steals an old car and gives chase at dawn before it breaks down, then commandeers a small airplane and parachutes down to the highway.
After a lengthy fight on the moving trucks, Frank throws Wall Street onto the road where he is crushed by the wheels (in the American version, Wall Street is only thrown out of the truck), 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.
Filming took place in on-location in the South of France: in Nice, Cassis, Saint-Tropez, Marseille, and Cannes. Jason 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. Director Louis Leterrier originally intended Martin to be gay. However, this angle was dropped during filming, and a sex scene between Martin and Lai was added.
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 Corey Yuen, a Hong Kong action veteran whose talent for hand-to-hand mayhem is truly something to see." Roger Ebert wrote, "Too much action brings the movie to a dead standstill." Eric Harrison, of the Houston Chronicle, said, "It's junk with a capital J. The sooner you realize that, the more quickly you can settle down to enjoying it."
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