The Transporter Refueled

The Transporter Refueled (French: Le Transporteur: Héritage; also known as Transporter 4) is a 2015 action thriller film directed by Camille Delamarre and written by Bill Collage, Adam Cooper, and Luc Besson. It serves as a reboot and the fourth film in the Transporter franchise. It stars Ed Skrein as Frank Martin, alongside Ray Stevenson, Loan Chabanol, Gabriella Wright, Tatjana Pajković, Wenxia Yu, Radivoje Bukvić, Lenn Kudrjawizki, Anatole Taubman, and Noémie Lenoir. In the film, Frank finds himself caught up in a bank heist and kidnapping plot orchestrated by Anna (Chabanol).
A fourth Transporter film was planned to feature original franchise star Jason Statham, who was offered a three film deal with EuropaCorp to produce additional installments. After negotiations with Statham fell through, Skrein was hired and the franchise was rebooted, featuring no returning cast members from the first three films. Principal photography took place in Paris.
The Transporter Refueled was theatrically released on 4 September 2015 in the United States and in France five days later, by EuropaCorp; it is the first Transporter film primarily distributed by EuropaCorp. The film received negative reviews from critics, who criticized the screenplay and found it underwhelming compared to other Transporter films. It grossed $72 million worldwide.
Plot
In 1995, Russian criminal mobster, Arkady Karasov, and his associates, Leo Imasov and Yuri took over other rival gangs' sex trafficking business at the French Riviera. One of the prostitutes is a young Anna, and Maïssa, another prostitute who used to work for the rival gang Karasov killed and Karasov takes an interest in taking her with him. Fifteen years later, Anna is calling someone to start implementing their plan to bring down Karasov and his criminal enterprise.
Former special forces operative-turned-mercenary Frank Martin is working as a skilled chauffeur for a living transporting classified packages and people for questionable clients. In a nearby parking garage, Frank intercepts and beats down a group of thugs trying to steal his Audi S8. Frank picks up Frank Martin Sr., a retired MI6 agent and Frank Jr.'s father.
Later that night, at the Carlton Cannes Hotel, Anna meets up with Qiao and kills the accountant in charge of Karasov's money. They place a dead prostitute's body and fabricate the hotel room to make it look like there was an accident before setting the hotel room on fire and escaping. At Frank Jr.'s residence, during a dinner with his father, Anna calls Frank for a "transporter", and asks him to meet her at the Hotel Barrière Le Majestic Cannes.
The next morning, Karsov and his lady, Maïssa discover that his accountant has been killed, and a dead prostitute is found wearing a distinctive necklace that belonged to his group. Meanwhile, Frank Jr. meets with Anna, who tells Frank Jr. to meet her at the Mediterranean Bank in Monte Carlo, and Frank Jr. accepts before he leaves.
Frank Jr. meets Anna at the Mediterranean Bank in Monte Carlo, where he is joined by three women, including Qiao and Maria. Suspicious, Frank tells the women to get out of the car, but they threaten him with a gun and a live video of his father being held at gunpoint to force Frank Jr. to cooperate. Frank Jr. drives away as Monaco police chase after them, but Frank manages to outrun the police and switch cars. Frank drives the women to a safe house and meets up with Gina and his father. Anna reveals that his father was ingested with poison and will die if Frank Jr. does what he was told since they have the antidote. Frank reluctantly accepts, and Anna tells Frank Jr. that they are going to infiltrate a hospital to steal anesthetic gas. Frank Jr. realizes that Anna and the women were former prostitutes of Karasov, with whom he shared a history.
Karasov and Maïssa went to the bank to see that the women had stolen a logbook that contained the list of every Karasov’s associates. He sees the security video of the driver and realizes that Frank Jr. was involved.
Frank takes Gina, Qiao, and Anna to a rave party club owned by Imasov. They set off the anesthetic gas to knock everyone in the club, including Imasov out, allowing them to get his fingerprints which gives them access to his bank account, and Anna transfers all the money to her account before they escape. By morning, Frank Sr and Maria, posing as the pilot and stewardess for Yuri, infiltrate his plane and secure his fingerprint to his account before Frank Jr. picks them up. Maria was shot by one of Yuri’s bodyguards, so they took her back to the safehouse to save her life before Anna revealed that the poison was a ruse. Frank Jr. and Sr. leave after the girls accomplish the job.
Karasov’s associates are starting to question Karsov about his history with Frank and seeing the girls wearing the same necklace from his group, so Karasov kidnaps Frank Sr and calls Frank Jr, demanding he bring the girls to him on his yacht or he will kill his father. Frank Jr. returns to the girls, but Gina seemingly leaves the group, so Frank Jr. takes the rest to the yacht where Frank Jr. meets Karasov. He learns that Karasov and his associates were all a part of his former black ops unit before they started doing illegal operations in a war zone, bribing some of the military officials to turn a blind eye, and Frank refused to do so. Yuri and Imasov came to the yacht, accusing Karasov of stealing their money, and Anna indicted that Karasov ordered the girls to steal their money.
Karasov shows his account to his associates to see the money, but Gina manages to sneak aboard the yacht and transfer all the stolen money to his account. Double-crossed, a shootout occurs, in which Qiao and Maria are killed in the crossfire. Amidst the chaos, Gina steals back the money to Anna's account before Maïssa shoots Gina. Before Maïssa tries to retrieve the stolen money, Gina strangles Maïssa before succumbing to her gunshot wound. Frank Jr. confronts Karasov on a cliffside, leading to a brutal hand-to-hand combat. Anna intervenes, shooting Karasov and sending him plummeting into the ocean.
After Karasov's demise, Frank Jr. convinces Anna to leave her life of revenge behind. One month later, Anna distributes the stolen money to the families of her fellow prostitutes and to Frank Jr. and Sr.
Cast
Ed Skrein as Frank Martin Jr., a former mercenary turned contract driver, known mainly as the Transporter.
Ray Stevenson as Frank Martin Sr., a retired secret agent and Frank's father
Loan Chabanol as Anna, one of four runaway sex slaves who wants to take revenge on Karasov for an event 15 years prior to the events of the film.
Gabriella Wright as Gina, Anna's friend and another one of four runaway sex slaves who set out against Karasov
Tatjana Pajković as Maria, Anna's friend and another one of four runaway sex slaves
Yu Wenxia as Qiao, Anna's friend and another one of the four runaway sex slaves
as Arkady Karasov, a powerful Russian mobster who kidnapped Frank's father, as well as Frank's former brother-in-arms and was responsible for the event that occurred 15 years prior to the events of the film, which involved Anna and her friends.
Noémie Lenoir as Maïssa
Lenn Kudrjawizki as Leo Imasov, the second person on Anna's hitlist for robbing their banks, who host nightclub dance parties.
Yuri Kolokolnikov as Yuri, a third person on Anna's hitlist for robbing their banks, and he owns a plane.
Samir Guesmi as Inspector Bectaoui
Anatole Taubman as Stanislav Turgin
Production
At the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, a new trilogy was announced with EuropaCorp and China's Fundamental Films co-producing and distributing the titles. The films will likely be budgeted between €25 million and €30 million each and at least one will be shot in China. Luc Besson will co-finance, distribute, produce and write all the films. The franchise was rebooted after negotiations with Jason Statham fell through.
EuropaCorp wanted Statham to sign a three contract deal, without revealing the script first. English actor Ed Skrein replaced Statham as Frank Martin in the fourth installment of the series. In March 2015, the title was changed from The Transporter Legacy to The Transporter Refueled.
Principal photography of the film began on 1 August 2014, in Paris, France.
Release
The film was previously set to be released on 6 March 2015. On 5 November 2014, EuropaCorp moved the film for a 19 June 2015 release. On 1 April 2015, EuropaCorp again moved the film back to a 4 September 2015.
Box office
The Transporter Refueled grossed $16 million in the United States and Canada, and $56.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $72.6 million. Its largest territory was China with .
In its opening weekend in North America, the film grossed $7.4 million, finishing 4th at the box office. It was also 4th on its opening weekend in China, grossing .
Critical response
The Transporter Refueled has received negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 15% based on 104 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Transporter Refueled has little to offer beyond a handful of decent action sequences, leaving this reboot's title feeling more like wishful thinking than a restatement of purpose." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 32 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.
IGN awarded it a score of 7.0 out of 10, saying, "The shadow of Jason Statham loomed large over this reboot, but Ed Skrein nails it, meaning the franchise is in safe hands."
References
External links
Transporter (franchise)
2015 films
Belgian action thriller films
2015 action thriller films
French action thriller films
Chinese action thriller films
2010s chase films
Films about organized crime in France
Films about race and ethnicity
Films about prostitution
Films set in 1995
Films set in 2010
Films set in Monaco
Films set in Paris
Films shot in Monaco
Films shot in Paris
Films produced by Luc Besson
Mafia films
Reboot films
IMAX films
TF1 Films Production films
Canal+ films
EuropaCorp films
Fundamental Films films
English-language French films
English-language Chinese films
English-language Belgian films
Films with screenplays by Luc Besson
2010s English-language films
French prequel films
Chinese prequel films
Belgian prequel films
2010s French films