Kickstarting Jason Statham’s career as an action hero, the best Transporter movies offered a varied collection of movies, both memorable and forgettable. The Transporter hit theaters in 2002, introducing Statham as freelance underworld courier Frank Martin. On the job, Frank’s rules are simple – no names, no opening the package, and the terms of the deal are set in stone. However, Frank often finds those rules tested and fighting his way through swarms of villains.
Statham brought charisma and physicality to The Transporter series, making Frank Martin his breakout role. However, following The Transporter 3, Statham moved on to other franchises, such as The Expendables movies and the Fast & Furious movies. Meanwhile, the Transporter franchise attempted to carry on without him. Along with Statham’s original three movies, there are two more entries in the franchise, including one that fans might have missed.
5
Collateral (2004)
Jason Statham As Frank Martin (Cameo)
Collateral
10/10
- Release Date
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August 6, 2004
- Runtime
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120 minutes
- Director
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Michael Mann
Not technically a Transporter movie, but more of a chapter in The Transporter Cinematic Universe, Michael Mann’s Collateral sees Jamie Foxx as cab driver Max Durocher, who gets recruited by an assassin named Vincent (Tom Cruise) to drive him around Los Angeles as he carries out his latest hits. Collateral brings an appropriately dark feel to Foxx’s everyman cab man driver pulled into a situation completely foreign to him, and having to navigate a harrowing cat-and-mouse game, while Cruise channels a charming yet poised contract killer.
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For fans of The Transporter series, Collateral is more fondly remembered for one scene above all. Jason Statham cameos as an unidentified man delivering a briefcase to Vincent in an airport, with Statham’s character confirmed by Transporter director Louis Leterrier to be Frank Martin. While not having a tremendous amount of bearing on The Transporter series, Collateral still quietly decided to implement the cameo/cross-over gimmick from one movie to another before it was cool.
Transporter completionists may want to give Collateral a look just to be able to see all of Frank Martin’s big-screen appearances to date, but otherwise, Collateral is best enjoyed on its own terms as a gripping thriller.
4
The Transporter Refueled (2015)
Ed Skrein As Frank Martin
While The Transporter Refueled aimed to relaunch the series, it’s mostly forgettable without Jason Statham returning. Frank Martin, now played by Ed Skrein, takes up his latest job of transporting a woman named Anna (Loan Chabanol) from a bank, only to find himself recruited into a vendetta against mob boss Arkady Karasov by Anna and three other women escaping from sex trafficking.
Presented as it is, Refueled is just another kidnapping plot with generic action sequences and little new material brought to a franchise that had such an energetic start.
Skrein isn’t necessarily a bad choice as the lead of an action movie, but the latter’s absence from Refueled makes it hard for the reboot/sequel to move past, though that’s far from its only issue. The action scenes, while channeling prop-assisted creativity, just aren’t particularly invigorating or inspiring.
Introducing Ray Stevenson as Frank’s father could have led the franchise somewhere interesting, but it isn’t explored enough. Presented as it is, Refueled is just another kidnapping plot with generic action sequences and little new material brought to a franchise that had such an energetic start.
3
Transporter 3 (2008)
Jason Statham As Frank Martin
Transporter 3
- Release Date
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December 5, 2008
- Runtime
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104 Minutes
- Director
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Olivier Megaton
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Natalya Rudakova
Valentina Vasilev
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Francois Berleand
Inspector Tarconi
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Frank Martin leaped from 20th Century Fox to Lionsgate with 2008’s Transporter 3, and despite Jason Statham being committed as ever, it’s the low point of the initial trilogy. In the third movie, Frank is coerced into transporting a young woman named Valentina (Natalya Rudakova) to Budapest, with an explosive bracelet affixed to his arm.
Crank is another action-packed franchise starring Jason Statham.
On paper, Transporter 3 puts a Crank-like spin on his mission, but the gimmick isn’t exploited enough to make it feel particularly high stakes. Even worse, after two predecessors full of outstanding fights and chase sequences, Transporter 3 relied too heavily on shaky camera work and fast editing.
Fight scenes that could’ve been hard-hitting and exhilarating showdowns, such as Frank taking on an entire gang of henchmen in an auto garage after trying to free himself of the explosive bracelet, are reduced to blurs of incoherent fisticuffs. The cuts and camerawork tore every action scene to shreds. As Valentina, Natalya Rudakova at least makes a fairly respectable debut as a first-time actress, but the rest of Transporter 3 is sadly not up to snuff.
2
The Transporter (2002)
Jason Statham As Frank Martin
The Transporter
6/10
- Release Date
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June 19, 2015
- Runtime
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101minutes
- Director
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Louis Leterrier, Corey Yuen
2002’s sleeper action hit The Transporter kicked Jason Statham into the mainstream as Frank Martin, a courier with a code. Tasked with transporting a mysterious bag, Frank breaks his rule and opens the package, discovering the bound Lai (Shu Qi) inside. Like Frank himself, The Transporter is as confident as an action movie can get.
Frank’s cynicism leading him to his mercenary lifestyle makes him a much more relatable anti-hero, and his soft banter with French police inspector Tarconi (François Berléand) adds humor to the movie. While The Transporter is never short for chases and fights, the movie’s shipping container and bus station brawls were the standout moments.
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It was made even more effective with the obvious fact that it was Statham himself who was taking part in these fight sequences, proving to be the rare action star who could do his own stunts. The Transporter established Statham as a grizzled, stubbly action hero with a predilection for gravelly one-liners and spinning kicks, and was an outstanding start to the series.
1
Transporter 2 (2005)
Jason Statham As Frank Martin
Transporter 2
- Release Date
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August 3, 2005
- Runtime
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87 minutes
- Director
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Louis Leterrier
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Amber Valletta
Audrey Billings
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Alessandro Gassmann
Gianni Chellini
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Transporter 2 landed in 2005 as an even more relentless, self-confident, and action-packed sequel. Frank’s taken on a gig as the chauffeur for the child of a Florida politician, only to find himself pulled into a kidnapping and assassination plot by drug kingpin Gianni (Alessandro Gassman). Transporter 2 is even more sure of itself than its predecessor, opening with Frank putting down a gang of car robbers with a casual, day-at-the-office attitude, removing his suit jacket that “just came out of the dry cleaner’s.“
Transporter 2 brings incredible vigor and power to its chase scenes and martial arts fights.
Transporter 2 occasionally dips into a moment or two of this kind of ridiculousness, specifically when Frank flips his car midair to graze a crane and remove a bomb from underneath. Nonetheless, Transporter 2 brings incredible vigor and power to its chase scenes and martial arts fights.
The garage fight is like an advanced version of the previous film’s battle in a similar location, with Frank using a steel pole and a fire hose to take down his enemies. Though it has a short runtime, Transporter 2 understood what fans wanted from the franchise and delivered an even bigger crowd-pleaser.
Where Does The Transporter TV Show Rank?
Along with the five movies in the Transporter franchise, the adventures of Frank Martin have extended to the small screen as well. The Transporter was released as a series on TNT with Chris Vance taking on the role of Martin and François Berléand reprising his role as Inspector Tarconi from the movies. The series follows Martin on his various missions, which often see him getting into more danger than he bargained for.
In terms of where the series lands in the franchise’s ranking, The Transporter TV show sits comfortably in the middle of the pack, better than Transporter: Refueled and The Transporter 3, but not as good as the original two movies. It is a fun and thrilling crime series that fits nicely into the mythology of the franchise. It also understands its smaller budget and keeps its action modest rather than relying on cheap CGI for bigger moments.
However, like The Transporter Refueled, not having Statham in the main role is an issue. Vance actually pulls off the grizzled yet professional demeanor of Frank Martin well, but as an action hero, he falls short of Statham. In the end, the series ran for two seasons, providing a new and more in-depth look at The Transporter series.
Which Transporter Protagonist Is The Best?
Most fans and critics consider Jason Stathan’s Frank Martin to be the best of the best Transporter protagonists. While Statham became a master action film star throughout his career, it was The Transporter, which was the action movie franchise that solidified his place in this world. However, it took him a movie to really get his bearings, as the first film, while the one that launched the series, wasn’t the best when it came to Statham’s performance. However, Martin in the second movie was easily the best of the best.
What made Statham’s Frank Martin great is the fact it is Jason Statham. He carries himself in a way that makes everything he does seem real, from his fighting to his no-nonsense attitude. Martin is a former Special Ops agent, and with Statham’s performance, he made it believable. He also has the perfect mix of a man who is not willing to take nonsense to someone who is just as willing to mock someone he is about to take down as only Jason Statham could.
While there were two actors in the Transporter movies to play Frank Martin, the TV series based on the franchise had a better version of Frank Martin than the fourth film. In the TV series, Chris Vance played Frank Martin, taking over for Jason Statham before giving way to Ed Skrein in the fourth movie. Vance was different from Statham in several ways. Vance himself explained how he tried to differentiate himself from Statham while still keeping the spirit of the character (via Collider):
“Jason Statham’s performance in the movie franchise was awesome. He was cool. But, I’m not one to imitate anybody. I’m no mimic. I can’t really emulate people. That’s the last thing in the world that I want to do, as an actor, anyway…
I started at the beginning, aware of what came before, and went through my usual process, as an actor, which is to ask a thousand questions about what makes this guy tick, about the world that he’s in, about the relationships or non-relationships that he has, and whether he’s a hero or an anti-hero. And then, I jumble the answers together to create something that I think will be accessible in the medium, which is different from a movie franchise.
Finally, the worst of the Transporter protagonists had to come in The Transporter Refueled. Ed Skrein couldn’t match up to what Statham did in any of his movies – not even Statham’s lesser effort in The Transporter 3. In his review for The New York Times, Ben Kenigsberg wrote, “As previously embodied by Jason Statham, Frank was an ace driver and brawler always annoyed at having to ruffle one of his perfectly pressed shirts. The new Frank is played by the reedy and humorless Ed Skrein, who substitutes smarm for Mr. Statham’s deadpan wit.“
The Transporter Franchise
The Transporter is an action-thriller franchise that began with the 2002 film directed by Corey Yuen and produced by Luc Besson. The series follows Frank Martin, a professional driver and former special operations soldier, who specializes in transporting packages—no questions asked. The franchise is known for its high-octane action sequences, stylish car chases, and Jason Statham’s portrayal of Frank Martin in the first three films. The series has expanded to include four films, a television series, and a reboot, maintaining its popularity as a staple of action cinema.
- Created by
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Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
- Cast
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Jason Statham, Shu Qi, Francois Berleand, Matt Schulze, Alessandro Gassmann, Natalya Rudakova, Ed Skrein, Ray Stevenson, Chris Vance, Andrea Osvart
- TV Show(s)
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Transporter The Series