The Transporter (2002)

The Transporter (2002) – Full Plot, Cast & Ending Explained

‘The Transporter’ cast & characters

‘The Transporter’ movie is the first from the Transporter series and was released in 2002. It was directed by  Corey Yuen, a renowned director from Hong Kong.

The actors in the movie were Jason Statham playing Frank Martin, Shu Qi playing Lai, Matt Schulze playing Wall Street, Francois Berleand playing Inspector Tarconi, and Ric Young playing Mr. Kwai, among others.

Introduction to the movie ‘The Transporter’

The movie is about a guy named Frank Martin who prefers to live a secluded life on the Mediterranean coastline. He is known as the transporter, and his main job is to transport the packages for the clients.

However, Frank does it in his own way without being involved in the deal. He sets three rules for himself in order to execute the jobs being handed over to him by the clients. These are:

• No last-minute changes accepted in the deal.
• No names to be asked either by himself or by the clients about the deal.
• Not to open the parcel being delivered, whatsoever is inside the parcel.

The story begins, and in the first scene, as per his assignment, he has to transport some people to their destination.

At the start of the movie, Frank is seen sitting in his car and after his alarm rings, indicating to him to start his destination, he starts the car. He reaches the destination and stops in front of a palatial building where four half-masked people are waiting for him.

Frank follows his own set of rules

These are the robbers who are escaping the police after probably robbing a bank. All four enter the car and tell him to move. He doesn’t agree and tells them that the deal was only for three people and 254 kilos.

They point a gun at him, forcing him to move, but he again rejects their demand to move and reminds them of the condition of the deal as per his rule #1.

Sensing danger from the police, the head of the gang kills one of the members and throws him out of the car. It is only after the condition of his rule #1 is met that he drives them fast and successfully to their destination after a long chase with the police.

On reaching the destination, the robbers offer him money to drop them further away from the city. He declines as per his rule no. 1. After that, the robbers escape in another car, and Frank leaves.

Frank returns to his mansion in the south of France, where he services his car and changes the number plate. Here, he gets to know from the news that the gang is caught after crashing their getaway car in pursuit.

Then, later in the day, a local police officer named Tarconi drops by and wants to question Frank about the robbery. His suspicion is based on the fact that the model of the car used for the robbery is the same that Frank holds.

On enquiring from Frank whether he was out for driving, Frank replies that he can’t do so till the orders are passed. Although Tarconi has some suspicion, he doesn’t have concrete proof.

Frank’s car looks as good as new, and hence, he doesn’t have anything substantial against Frank. Tarconi tells Frank that the robbers have committed a big robbery and leaves after that.

Franks gets his next assignment

As soon as the police officer leaves, Frank gets a call for the next assignment. He goes to meet his client, who assigns him the job of delivering a package to an American Gangster known as Wall Street.

Frank is being informed that the weight of the parcel that he has to transport is 50 kg this time. He writes down all the details on the piece of paper and, in the end, burns the piece of paper.

Frank waits outside a building, and soon two people come out with the parcel and put it inside the boot of his car. He heads for the destination, but while on the midway, the tyre of his car punctures.

Frank starts to open the boot of the car to take out a new tyre. While doing so, he notices some movement inside the parcel.

He ignores it, as per his rule #3.

After setting the tyre right, Frank moves ahead to the destination. In the middle, he stops at an eatery and after having his meal, he buys a bottle of juice for the person whom he has noticed inside the boot of the car. Again, in the middle, he stops the car and opens the package, thereby breaking his own set rule.

Entry of the girl Lai into the scene

He finds out that there is a girl in the parcel with tape on her mouth, who starts to resist. He tries to convince her that he is only opening the tape on her mouth so that she can drink some juice. After he feeds her, he again tapes her mouth and closes her in the parcel and moves to his destination.

While driving, he notices that the girl is banging the car badly with her hands. He stops and opens the boot and the parcel, again breaking the rule. On enquiring, she tells him that she needs to pee and should be set free.

Frank releases her but ties her with a rope around the neck with another end in his hand. He tells her that she has only one minute to relieve herself.  At a distance, when she is asked to relieve herself, behind the bushes, she escapes.

Frank goes after her and captures her at a distance. When he starts to put her back into the car, two police officers see and stop him. He incapacitates them in a hand-to-hand fight and puts the girl in the car. He then delivers the package as agreed upon to the required destination, which is a man named Wall Street. While delivering the package, Wall Street enquires whether he has opened the parcel, to which Frank replies negatively.

Frank is about to go after getting his money as agreed upon. Wall Street tells him that he has another job for him and hands over a briefcase to him. He tells him that since he does the job quite effectively, he can deliver the parcel to the destination. After getting the address from Wall Street, Frank leaves with the briefcase to get it delivered to the destination.

Attack on Frank

In the middle, he stops over for refreshment, and when he is about to enter his car, a blast takes place in the car, blowing away car into pieces. Luckily for Frank, he escapes unhurt. Furious that Wall Street has set this up to kill him, Frank heads back towards Wall Street to take revenge.

On reaching there, Frank kills several of Wall Street’s henchmen in a fight and takes one of Wall Street’s cars with him in return for his loss.

While driving, Frank notices the same girl in the rear seat, whom he had handed over to Wall Street as a package. She is tied and her mouth is sealed with the tape. Frank stops the car midway and sets her free in the middle of the road. But, as an afterthought, he comes back to her and puts her back in the car and drives away.

Frank takes her to his home, where the girl tells him that her name is Lai. Frank gives her food and tells her to rest. Here, when Wall Street gets to know about his men being hit, he visits them in the hospital.

Wall Street enquires from them about the perpetrator of this act. His henchman tells him that it was the transporter. Wall Street gets angry and kills his own man in the hospital and leaves.

Frank begins to know Lai

At Frank’s home, the girl Lai prepares a cake, tea, and coffee for Frank and tells him that he will surely like it. Just then, the police officer Tarconi again visits Frank’s home and is surprised to find a girl, as he knew that Frank lived alone.

On being asked, Lai replies that she is Frank’s new cook. Tarconi shows Frank the number plate of the car that was damaged in the blast. Frank replies that it is the number plate of his car, which was stolen, and that he was about to register a police complaint soon.

Tarconi asks Frank how he managed to come from the place where his car was stolen. Lai tells him that she brought Frank in her car to this place.

The police officer tells them that he wants to see the car, which is owned by a cook. After inspecting the car, whose front headlight is broken and unnoticed by him, he leaves after a brief talk. After the police officer leaves, Frank and Lai start to have a conversation and are about to get intimate, but suddenly Frank gets suspicious of the surroundings.

Another Attack on Frank

Just then, bombs and bullets start to rain on the house from outside. They are under attack from all sides by heavily armed men. The attackers continuously fire rockets and missiles at the house and force Frank to escape along with Lai from the basement and towards the sewer line. The house is completely destroyed in the missile attack.

They are able to make their way to another apartment of Frank in the city. Frank is anxious and thinks about how to come out of the situation. Lai just feels attracted to Frank and moves closer to Frank. Both of them share some intimate moments being close to each other.

They visit Tarconi in the police station, where Tarconi asks them where they have been. Frank tells him that they were out at the beach for swimming, and when they returned, they found the house completely destroyed by an attack. Tarconi tells him that they have found about 5000 empty cartilages outside his house.

Tarconi reveals that someone is after their life and asks if he can throw light on the attack. Frank replies that he is unaware and that he is only a retired person and has no idea whatsoever. While Tarconi is away from his seat, Lai extracts information about Wall Street and his whereabouts from Tarconi’s computer. When Tarconi returns, he gives Frank the visiting card of his brother, who owns a hotel.

He also gives some money to Frank so that he won’t have any problems outside. Lai sits in the car, but Frank decides against it and tells Lai to part ways. He tells her that he is caught in this situation because of her and wants this to end. To this, Lai tells him that Wall is trafficking two containers full of Chinese people along with her father and family, and wants to sell them for slavery.

Frank decides to help Lai

Reluctant initially, Frank ultimately decides to help Lai and other people. Both of them visit Wall Street in his office and put a gun to his head, asking about the containers. Wall tells Lai that her father is expecting them anytime. Frank gets surprised, since Lai had told her that her father is held captive in the container. Wall continues that her father has lied to her.

The next moment, Lai’s father enters the room and asks her to drop the gun. She gets to know that her father lied to her and that both Wall Street and her father were involved in human trafficking. After Lai is forced to drop the gun, Wall Street invites another guy, Leo, to the room, who starts to hit Frank and renders him unconscious.

Just then, Tarconi, the police officer who was tracking Frank, enters the room. On asking about Frank being unconscious, Wall tells him that Frank was involved in the kidnapping of the girl, who is the daughter of the businessman.

Tarconi takes Frank with him to the police station, and Lai’s Dad takes Lai with him to his place. Tarconi is with Frank in the jail room, and when his consciousness returns, Tarconi tells him that he knew that Frank hadn’t actually kidnapped the girl. He says that he believes that Frank is not that sort of guy. Tarconi tells him that he wants to know the truth from him.

Tarconi plans Frank’s exit from jail

Frank tells him that these people have kidnapped 400 Chinese people, mostly girls, who are in containers. They are being smuggled into containers and will be sold as slaves. Tarconi believes him and asks him how much time he needs to neutralize them.

Frank replies that he needs 12 hours for this. Tarconi makes an exit plan for Frank to come out of jail. He makes Frank point a gun at him in order to escape. He does the same in front of the police officers and comes out of jail.

After that, Tarconi drops Frank at a boat, who heads towards the area where the containers are placed. He has a fierce fight with Wall Street and his men. Frank is able to track the container that contains the kidnapped people.

He tries to chase Wall Street through the container while Wall Street is running in his car.  The driver throws Frank off the container, but he jumps on a bus. Wall’s men chase Frank, and a fight begins in the Bus yard.

Frank finishes his opponent

He kills them one by one, but their numbers keep on increasing. He jumps in the water, but Wall Street’s men set the water on fire, pouring inflammable material. Frank escapes in a car towards the containers, but his vehicle breaks down in the middle. Sensing that he is running out of time, as the containers are getting away from him.

He climbs a nearby hill and spots an airplane. Forcing his entry into the airplane, Frank spots the containers and Wall Street’s vehicle on the road from above. He jumps from a parachute on the container and fights his way through, thereby neutralizing Wall Street. Lai’s father points a gun at Frank, but Lai shoots her father and kills him.

Tarconi arrives at the spot with the police force, and the captives are released from the containers. Frank and Lai hug each other, and the movie ends on a happy note.

Some of the FAQ’s from the movie ‘The Transporter’