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Transporter 2

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Transporter 2
Theatrical release poster
Directed byLouis Leterrier
Written by
Based onCharacters
by Luc Besson
Robert Mark Kamen
Produced by
  • Luc Besson
  • Steve Chasman
Starring
CinematographyMitchell Amundsen
Edited by
Music byAlexandre Azaria
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 3 August 2005 (2005-08-03) (France)
  • 2 September 2005 (2005-09-02) (United States)
Running time
88 minutes[3]
CountryFrance[1]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$32 million[4][2]
Box office$89.1 million[2]

Transporter 2 (French: Le Transporteur 2) is a 2005 English-language French action film directed by Louis Leterrier and written by Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen. It is the sequel to The Transporter (2002) and the second installment in the Transporter franchise. It stars Jason Statham as Frank Martin, with Alessandro Gassmann, Amber Valletta, Kate Nauta, François Berléand, Matthew Modine, and Jason Flemyng. In the film, Frank Martin (Statham) is tasked with protecting the young son of politician Jefferson Billings (Modine) from an international drugs cartel.

Transporter 2 was theatrically released in France on 3 August 2005, by EuropaCorp, and was released in the United States on 2 September by 20th Century Fox. It received mixed reviews from critics with praise for Statham's performance, action sequences and direction, but criticism for its screenwriting. It grossed $89.1 million worldwide and was followed by the sequel Transporter 3 (2008).

Plot

Frank Martin has relocated from southern France to Miami, Florida. As a favor to a friend, he becomes a temporary chauffeur for the wealthy Billings family. Frank bonds with their son Jack, whom he drives to and from elementary school in his new Audi A8 W12. The marriage of Jefferson and Audrey Billings is under great strain due to the demands of his high-profile government job. Frank prepares for the arrival of his friend Inspector Tarconi, who has come to spend his holiday in Florida with Frank.

When Frank takes Jack for a medical checkup, he realizes that impostors have killed and are masquerading as the doctor and receptionist. A lengthy fight erupts between thugs led by Lola; Frank manages to escape with Jack. Just as they arrive at Jack's house, he receives a phone call informing him that he and Jack are in the sight of a sniper capable of penetrating the car's bulletproof glass.

Forced at gunpoint to let Lola into the car, Frank speeds away with Jack, evading many pursuing police cars. They arrive at a warehouse, where Frank meets Gianni Chellini, the operation's ringleader. Frank is ordered to leave without Jack. He discovers an explosive attached to the car and succeeds in removing it a split-second before detonation. Jack is returned to his family after the payment of a ransom, but unknown to them and Frank, Jack has been injected with a deadly virus that will eventually kill anyone whom the child breathes near. Suspected by everyone except Audrey for being one of the kidnappers, Frank tracks down the remaining fake doctor, Dimitri, with Tarconi's assistance. Frank pretends to infect Dimitri with the same virus (having failed to retrieve the injector from the doctor's office), then lets him escape. Dimitri panics and hurries to a lab to get the cure, with Frank following behind.

In his panic, Dimitri kills Tipov, another of Chellini's men, in his attempt to force the scientist in charge of the lab to give him the cure. Frank arrives and kills another henchman, then informs Dimitri that he was never infected before killing him. However, when Frank refuses to bargain with him, the scientist hurls the only two vials containing the antidote out of the window into traffic. Frank manages to retrieve only one intact vial. Frank sneaks back into the Billings home and uses the antidote on Jack.

Meanwhile, Jefferson, the director of National Drug Control Policy, addresses the heads of many anti-drug organizations from around the world at a conference, unknowingly infecting all of them in the process. Frank drives to Chellini's home and, after dispatching Chellini's many henchmen, finds that Chellini has decided to inject himself with the remaining supply of antidote as a precaution. Frank has Chellini at gunpoint as the latter explains that the Colombian drug cartels are paying him to get rid of their enemies. He says that Frank cannot risk killing him because they would lose the antidote. An armed Lola shows up, leading to a standoff. Chellini leaves Lola to deal with Frank, which results in Frank killing her by impaling her on a wine rack. Frank tracks Chellini, escaping in his helicopter to a jet. Using a Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster from Chellini's garage, Frank speeds to the airport and boards Chellini's jet by climbing onto the jet's nose gear.

After killing the co-pilot, Frank gets into the interior of the plane and confronts Chellini, who pulls a gun on him. When they wrestle for it, a wild shot kills the pilot, and the plane crash-lands in the ocean. Frank incapacitates Chellini, rendering him immobile while preserving the antidote in his system, then pushes his captive and himself out of the sinking plane just as the police converge to pick them up.

The Billings are given the antidote. When Frank visits them in the hospital, before entering their room, he sees them with Jack. He silently walks back to his car, where Tarconi is waiting. He drops his friend at the airport. Frank later receives a call from a man who needs a transporter.

Cast

Reception

Transporter 2 opened in the United States on 2 September 2005. During its opening weekend, the film grossed $16.5 million in the U.S.[5] In total, it earned $43 million in the U.S. and $85 million worldwide.[2]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 52% based on reviews from 122 critics and an average rating of 5.4/10, with the reported consensus: "A stylish and more focused sequel to The Transporter, the movie is over-the-top fun for fans of the first movie."[6] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score 56 out of 100, based on reviews from 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[7] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[8]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film 3 stars out of 4 and said it was better than the original.[9] Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post gave it a negative review and wrote: "Statham isn't the best thing in Transporter 2; he's essentially the only thing."[10]

Director Louis Leterrier stated that Frank Martin was "the first gay action movie hero", suggesting that the character comes out when he refuses a woman's advances by saying, "It's because of who I am."[11] This is contradicted by the first film in the series, in which Martin sleeps with a woman, and Transporter 3, which Leterrier did not direct, in which Martin develops a heterosexual relationship. Asked his opinion of the third film, Leterrier stated that after re-watching his first two films "they aren't that gay".[12]

Music

Transporter 2: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by
Various Artists
Released6 September 2005 (2005-09-06)
GenrePop, rock
Length57:05
LabelTVT Records
ProducerVarious Artists
Singles from Transporter 2: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
  1. "Saviour"
    Released: 2005
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[13]
IGN[14]

The soundtrack album for Transporter 2 was released in the United States on 6 September 2005 by TVT Records. It features sixteen tracks recorded by various artists, including the film score composed by Alexandre Azaria. James Christopher Monger from Allmusic rated the album three stars out of five, citing Grand National's "Talk Amongst Yourselves", Anggun's "Saviour" and Mylo's "Paris Four Hundred" as the highlights of the soundtrack.[13]

Soundtrack

No.TitleWriter(s)ArtistLength
1."Naughty Girl"Alexandre AzariaAlexandre Azaria1:28
2."Cells"Dan BlackThe Servant4:50
3."Icarus"Amen BirdmenAmen Birdmen5:02
4."Painful" (Morphium Mix)BrunelloSin4:00
5."Main Theme"Alexandre AzariaAlexandre Azaria4:09
6."Life Support"Dave Cobb, Dimitris Koutsiouris, Toby MarriottThe Strays2:56
7."Body"Dan BlackThe Servant4:46
8."Talk Amongst Yourselves"Lawrence RuddGrand National4:31
9."Kendo"Alexandre AzariaAlexandre Azaria1:20
10."Saviour"Anggun C. Sasmi, Evelyne Kral, Frederic JaffreAnggun3:44
11."Revolution"Camus Mare CelliKate Nauta3:41
12."Paris Four Hundred"Myles MacinnesMylo3:36
13."Can You Handle It?"Sebo K.Shakedown4:04
14."Chase"Ross Bonney, Adam Goemans, Ramsay Miller, Scott RinningCinematics3:52
15."Voodoo Child"Laurent DaumailAfu-Ra, DJ Cam3:13
16."Jet Boxing"Alexandre AzariaAlexandre Azaria2:19
Total length:50:05

Home media

In 2006, Louis Leterrier re-released an uncensored version of Transporter 2 on DVD. The uncensored release is roughly 25 seconds longer than the theatrical cut, and contains improved CGI, particularly during the car chase from the hospital as well as the private jet scene. This release also contains more violent footage and blood during the fight scenes, and contains more nudity in certain scenes with Lola. It is available in Japan (R2 NTSC), France and the UK (both R2 PAL), as well as Thailand (R3 NTSC). It is also available on Blu-ray Disc in France and Japan (both releases are region-free). The Blu-ray was temporarily banned in North America for legal reasons, but has since been re-released. The uncensored fight footage as well as a longer car chase scene was only featured as deleted scenes on the US DVD release. Also the deleted footage included the killing of the doctor.

Sequel

Main article: Transporter 3

A 2008 sequel, entitled Transporter 3, was released in the U.S. on 26 November 2008. The film follows Frank Martin as he returns to France. It is the only film in the Transporter trilogy to be distributed by Lionsgate in the US.

References

  1. ^ "Le Transporteur 2 (2005)". www.unifrance.org. Archived from the original on 14 November 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d "Transporter 2". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 7 July 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2008.
  3. ^ "Transporter 2 (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 1 September 2005. Archived from the original on 25 December 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
  4. ^ "The Transporter II (2005)". JP's Box-Office. Archived from the original on 15 March 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  5. ^ Brandon Gray (6 September 2005). "'Transporter 2' Drives to Labor Day Record". Box Office Mojo.
  6. ^ "Transporter 2". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. 2 September 2005. Archived from the original on 2 May 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  7. ^ "Transporter 2". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  8. ^ "Home". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on 13 April 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  9. ^ Ebert, Roger (1 September 2005). "Silly sequel is quite transporting". Chicago Sun-Times.
  10. ^ Hunter, Stephen (2 September 2005). "'Transporter 2': Jason Statham's Going Places". Washington Post.
  11. ^ Lee, Chris (2 September 2005). "An action hero angle". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 13 October 2013. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  12. ^ Lee, Chris (29 November 2008). "'The Transporter,' gay action hero?". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 8 December 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  13. ^ a b James Christopher Monger (6 September 2005). "Original Soundtrack Transporter 2". Allmusic.com. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  14. ^ "Transporter 2 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - IGN". Au.ign.com. 2 September 2005. Archived from the original on 16 February 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
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