Transporter is an English-language 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 himself 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 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 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 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 is working as the driver/chauffeur for a wealthy family, in the United States. Martin bonds with their young son, whom he drives to school every day. When the boy is kidnapped, Frank must again take action 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 the kidnapped daughter of Leonid Vasilev, 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, 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. The films will likely be budgeted between $30 million to $40 million each and at least one will be shot in China. Luc Besson will co-finance, distribute, produce and write all the films. English actor Ed Skrein replaced Jason Statham as Frank Martin on the fourth installment of the series. 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, as having been a reprisal of Frank Martin.
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.
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, 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. 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.
