I’ve been on what you can call a Jason Statham binge as of late as I await A Working Man’s arrival on the 2025 movie schedule, and that has consisted of me spending countless hours watching some of the best action movies. This little exploration recently took me back to 2002’s The Transporter, a movie that was seriously all the rage when I started out in high school. And let me tell you… this movie still goes hard 23 years later.
However, it’s been years (I’d say at least 20) since I sat down and watched Statham’s Frank Martin make and break his own rules and the bones of anyone who got in his way, and so there’s some stuff I completely forgot about over the years. Plot points, the wild music, and even two of the best action sequences to ever feature the actor and stuntman advocate. Let’s take a trip down memory lane as I break it all down…
First Off, The Transporter Is Just As Fun As I Remembered
Though the Transporter franchise got a little out of hand and eventually lost Jason Statham as the leading man, the first movie in the series is pretty much all killer and no filler. If you take a look back at any compilation of the actor’s best fights, a large chunk of those videos are going to consist of Frank Martin whooping ass all up and down the French Mediterranean coast like it’s nothing.
From start to finish, The Transporter is a fun, chaotic, and brutal action flick with a pacing that is remarkably refreshing looking back. With a runtime of a little over 90 minutes, the movie wastes no time getting things going or keeping up with that pace. But that doesn’t mean the movie doesn’t have time for jokes or Statham’s signature quick-witted attitude, because it flourishes throughout this movie.
But I Completely Forgot That The Movie Starts With One Of The 2000s Best Car Chases
Long before Jason Statham was drifting around and taking things one quarter-mile at a time in the Fast & Furious movies – hell, before he popped up in The Italian Job – he was pushing cars to the limit in The Transporter. And I just have to say that the sequence that opens up the movie is legitimately one of the best car chase scenes of the 21st century (and perhaps of all time). But I also have to admit that I completely forgot about this badass scene until I rewatched the movie. Shame on me, I know!
From introducing us to Frank Martin’s rules – never change the deal, no names, and never open the package – to racing around the streets of Nice, France, with cops on his tail after a bank robbery to that miraculous jump where he drives onto a semi-truck carrying vehicles down below, this was honestly one of the best opening scenes I’ve seen in a long time. And while I am mad at myself for forgetting about it, watching the chain of events with no recollection was pretty grand.
I Remembered There Being Incredible Fights, But The Oil Brawl Legitimately Took Me By Surprise
The Transporter is a Jason Statham movie (one written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen and directed by Corey Yuen and Louis Leterrier), so you know it’s going to have some killer fight sequences. And boy, does it have some gnarly brawls before everything is said and done. That said, I completely forgot about what is by far the best in the movie and perhaps one of Statham’s most absurd movie moments: the oil brawl.
Near the end of the movie, Frank Martin is in a bus depot where he takes on a small army of unnamed goons. Though the group initially has the upper hand on account of outnumbering Frank, this dude spills old motor oil all over the place, rips off some of the bike pedal straps for better traction, and puts a beating on these guys. It’s seriously some of the coolest stuff I’ve seen, and I couldn’t get enough of it.
In Their Own Way, Both Of These Scenes Pretty Much Established Jason Statham As An Action Star
Jason Statham was already a star in the making by the early 2000s thanks to his roles in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch – two of Guy Ritchie’s best movies – but The Transporter made him one of the biggest action stars on the planet. Though he had small parts in a few action flicks before wearing Frank Martin’s signature suit and tie, this performance was his coming out party. And we have these two scenes to thank for it.
Whether Statham was driving, shooting, fighting, and finding unique ways to take out henchmen, he looked absolutely badass, believable, and fun to watch through it all. No wonder he would follow this up with The Italian Job, Cellular, and subsequent Transporter movies before eventually joining the Expendables and Fast & Furious franchises. Without Frank Martin, there’s no Lee Christmas, and there’s no Deckard Shaw, and I don’t want to live in that world.
I Know It’s Off-Topic, But I Don’t Remember The Transporter Soundtrack Being So Sexy
The Transporter came out in 2002, so I knew there was going to be some music giving off serious early 2000s vibes. And there are thanks to bangers like Nate Dogg’s “I Got Love,” Missy Elliot’s “Scream a.k.a. Itchin’,” and Benzino’s “Rock the Party,” but I completely forgot about tracks that can best be described as sexy, if that doesn’t sound too weird. Gerald Levert’s “Funny,” is one good example, as is Nadia’s “Life of a Stranger,” but the track that takes the cake is the song that plays as Frank and Lai Kwai (Shu Qi) swim to escape an explosion about halfway through the movie. I can’t find any information on this track for the life of me, but it’s so moody, sultry, and random compared to everything else in the movie. There are hints of new age, there are horns, and there’s even a little flare that sounds like a James Bond movie. It’s great!
With Jason Statham being part of two of my most anticipated action movies of 2025 and beyond, maybe I’ll have to go back and revisit even more of his old movies.