The Transporter

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Movie
German title The Transporter
Original title Le transporter
The transporter.svg
Country of production France
original language English , French
Publishing year 2002
length 92 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
JMK 14
Rod
Director Louis Leterrier ,
Corey Yuen
script Luc Besson ,
Robert Mark Kamen
production Luc Besson,
Steve Chasman
music Stanley Clarke
camera Pierre Morel
cut Nicolas Trembasiewicz
occupation
chronology

Successor  →
Transporter - The Mission

The Transporter (Le Transporteur) is a French action film from 2002. Luc Besson was involved as a screenwriter and producer , while the Frenchman Louis Leterrier made his directorial debut. The film was continued in Transporter - The Mission in 2005 . The third part was shot in 2008 and was released in German cinemas in early 2009 under the name Transporter 3 .

action

Frank Martin, a former Special Air Service elite soldier , has retired and bought a house near Fréjus on the Mediterranean coast of southern France . There he lives an outwardly contemplative and withdrawn life. Behind the scenes, Frank runs a lucrative and exclusive transport business for dodgy customers who want people or (not too large) objects to be transported very safely and discreetly. He always plans and realizes the transports for which he uses a dark 7-series BMW meticulously.

He has established three rules for his business:

  1. Nothing is changed or renegotiated in an agreement that has been made.
  2. No names are given.
  3. The goods are never opened.

During one of his transports he has to get the spare wheel out of the trunk because of a flat tire. He notices that the bag he is transporting is moving. He opens it and finds the tied and gagged Asian Lai. Although he broke his rule by opening the package, he delivers the bag with Lai to his client, Bettencourt. He instructs him with another transport and gives him a briefcase for this.

On the way back, Frank makes a stop at a gas station. This short break saves his life, because when he goes back to the parking lot, the car parked there explodes. Bettencourt obviously wanted to kill him with the help of a suitcase bomb .

Frank returns to Bettencourt's property and starts a fight with his bodyguards. In the general confusion, the Lai trapped in the basement is able to flee.

Frank takes a car from Bettencourt's garage and is on his way home when he spots Lai in the back seat. Again breaking his rules, he takes the unknown woman into his home, gives her to eat and lets her sleep. The next morning Frank is visited by Inspector Tarconi, who has suspected him for a long time of not just being the harmless retiree he claims to be. The policeman confronts Frank with the license plate of his BMW found at the site of the explosion. Lai confirms Frank's statement that the BMW was stolen and gives him an alibi . The superintendent does not take the story from them and summons them to his office for the afternoon.

Soon afterwards, Bettencourt's bodyguards track down Frank's house and fire at it with large-caliber ammunition. Frank and Lai escape the house through a tunnel to the sea before it explodes. The two flee to another Franks domicile, where they get closer.

In the afternoon at the police station near Tarconi, Lai uses his brief absence to find out Bettencourt's identity on the police computer. However, she is disturbed and no longer manages to disguise her research, so that when Tarconi returns, she sees the page with Bettencourt's file.

When Frank and Lai Bettencourt lie in wait in his office, it turns out that Bettencourt and Lais - a father who is hated for this reason - are involved in human trafficking . The next delivery is imminent. A ship loaded with around 400 Chinese in two containers is already on its way.

Two of Bettencourt's men overpower Frank. Just as he is about to be shot, Inspector Tarconi appears. Bettencourt is the situation as if Frank illegally broke into his office, after which Frank in custody is taken. Frank takes the inspector into his confidence, but in view of the considerable bureaucratic obstacles he sees himself unable to save the refugees in the container. Therefore, he lets Frank take him hostage and thus enables him to escape.

The next night, Frank searches the port and watches how the containers with the refugees are loaded onto trucks. Frank clings to one of the departing containers, but is shaken off by the driver. After a fight against Bettencourt's henchmen, he chases the trucks in a small car. Because of an engine failure, he then hijacks an agricultural plane from which he parachutes onto one of the trucks. He manages to gain control of one of the vehicles, where he runs over Bettencourt.

When Frank comes to a stop, Lai's father threatens him with a gun. However, Lai shoots her father before Frank can kill him. At the same moment the inspector reappears and the refugees can be freed.

background

The film was in France in the capital Paris , the port city of Marseille , the nearby university town of Aix-en-Provence as well as along the d'Cote Azur located coastal cities Cassis , Saint-Tropez , Cannes , Villefranche-sur-Mer , Nice and Eze turned . The budget of the film was approximately 21 million US dollars estimated. The film premiered in the US on October 2, 2002 and was shown in US cinemas on October 11, 2002. The film had its theatrical release in France on October 23, 2002. In Germany the film opened in cinemas on May 8, 2003, in Austria one day later. In the United States, nearly $ 25.3 million was earned, of which over $ 9.1 million was generated on the opening weekend. At the German box office, almost 770,000 euros were taken and over 104,000 visitors were counted. In France, the film was seen in cinemas by over 540,000 viewers.

In the scene in which Lai is rummaging through a box of Frank's memorabilia, she discovers a photo of a little boy with a monkey. This picture, which actually shows Jason Statham, is an authentic photo from his childhood. In a later scene in which Lai uses the police computer to find the crook named "Wall Street", whose real name is Darren Bettencourt according to the expression of DATAPOL, pictures of some other people are displayed on the computer screen. These are members of the film crew , the names on the right consisting of puns like " Gordon Zola ", " Luke Yluck ", " Klaus Trauphob ", " Tobbie Hornottobi ", " Albert Muda " and "Christiane Isme". In one of the final battle scenes, in which Frank takes on countless opponents in a bus depot and in doing so, pours three tubs of used oil on the floor, treacle was actually used instead of used oil - according to Statham's statement from the bonus material on the DVD.

The sound designer Vincent Tulli has a cameo as a garbage collector. In addition to directing, Corey Yuen was also responsible for all action scenes as a choreographer. Jason Statham performed most of the stunts seen in the film himself.

In the film's trailer, Jason Statham can be seen in the role of Frank Martin, using a tablet to deflect a missile that has been fired at his house. In the later film this scene was omitted at the request of Statham, as he feared that this would be perceived by the audience as implausible. It is believed that Jason Statham's character Frank also stars in the movie Collateral , as in the opening scene the hit man Vincent, played by Tom Cruise , is given a package from a transporter - played by Jason Statham .

The weapons used in the film include weapons of the Steyr AUG , M-4 , HK G36 and SIG 552 types .

In the film, Frank Martin wears a stethoscope to determine which container kidnapped people are sitting in. It is a Littman Classic II SE, in a color that was only used for infant stethoscopes in Germany. He's got it the wrong way round.

The vehicle Frank uses for his transport trips is an inconspicuous black BMW 735i with a manual transmission . Although the car is described in the film as being built in 1999, it is - according to Jason Statham in "Making of The Transporter " - actually a 1998 750i converted to manual transmission - the only vehicle of this model ever to have a 6-speed -Manual gearbox, which was borrowed from a BMW 850CSi E31 , was equipped. The car can only be started after entering the four-digit ignition code 1732. Furthermore, a number plate changer is installed, with the help of which you can switch between three license plates at the push of a button . After Frank's vehicle was destroyed by the suitcase bomb , he took over the car of the client who pushed the explosives under him. It is a black Mercedes-Benz S-Class of the W 140 series . Towards the end of the film, other vehicles are used, including a Renault 5 and several Renault AE trucks . The French police almost exclusively use a Peugeot 307 in the film , only the inspector drives an old Saab 900 . In a chase scene, a civilian Peugeot 607 with a blue police light is chasing Frank Martin.

criticism

The editorial team of Kino News saw an "equally entertaining and exciting fireworks display".

The lexicon of international films judges: “The action film, which is located in the south of France, wants to copy Western patterns of success and at the same time enrich them with set pieces from commercial Hong Kong cinema. The result is a content-free mixture full of technical defects, which confuses hectic cuts with speed and accepts logical breaks with approval. "

Hubert Carl from kino.de sums up: “'The Transporter' is a top-class, explosive mixture of European, American and Asian action cinema. A treat for fans of brilliantly choreographed car chases and fire exchanges. The real sensation of the film, however, is the leading actor Jason Statham . His cool charm is reminiscent of the good old ' Die Hard ' Bruce Willis - and his fighting technique of the art of Jackie Chan . The birth of a new action star. "

Sequels

In 2005, the continuation of the film was released with Transporter - The Mission . A third part, Transporter 3 , was produced in 2008. 2012 started with Transporter: Die Serie, a television series that ties in with the films, but in which Chris Vance took over the lead role. In September 2015, The Transporter Refueled was a kind of restart in the film series, with Ed Skrein taking over the lead role .

Individual evidence

  1. Release certificate for The Transporter . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , April 2003 (PDF; test number: 93 556 K).
  2. Age rating for The Transporter . Youth Media Commission .
  3. Locations according to the Internet Movie Database
  4. a b c d budget and box office results according to the Internet Movie Database
  5. a b c Start dates according to the Internet Movie Database
  6. a b c d e f g h i j Background information according to the Internet Movie Database
  7. Film review ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Kino News 05/2003 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kinonews.de
  8. ^ The Transporter in the Lexicon of International FilmsTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used , accessed November 22, 2012.
  9. ^ Film review , Hubert Carl

Web links