The Transporter (French: Le Transporteur) is a 2002 English-language action thriller film directed by Cory Yuen and written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. It is the first installment in the Transporter franchise and stars Jason Statham as Frank Martin, alongside Shu Qi, François Berléand, Matt Schulze, and Ric Young. In the film, Frank, a British mercenary driver living in France, becomes involved in a human trafficking plot.
The Transporter was inspired by the short film series The Hire. The film premiered at the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles on October 2, 2002, and was first theatrically released in the United States on October 11 by 20th Century Fox, and in France on October 23 by EuropaCorp. It received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its action sequences but criticism for its story. It grossed $43.9 million worldwide and was followed by the sequel Transporter 2 (2005).
