The Transporter Refueled

Year: 2015

Country: France, China, Belgium

Tagline: ...a turbo-charged thrill ride through the French Riviera, full of hairpin twists and dangerous curves.

Plot: In the year 1995 somewhere in a French Rivera city on a typical evening, a group of teenage girls, prostitutes, are on the street, strolling for customers under the watchful eyes of their local black pimps. A van rolls up and a man gets out. One of the black pimps tells him to keep moving, as he's working. "So am I", the man says and opens fire with an assault rifle. The man, a Russian named Arkady Karasov (Radivoje Bukvic) and his partners, Yuri (Yuri Kolokolnikov) and Leo Imasova (Lenn Kudrjawizki) continue to fire on the men, killing them and causing their working girls to flee. Karasov sees one man survived and lets him live with a warning to his bosses that this territory is theirs now. Karasov whistles and a van of his "girls" complete with necklaces with the shape of a knife through the heart (to signify they're his "property") are made to stand on the same street where the murders took place. One of the girls Anna (Loan Chabanol) is visibly shaken by what has happened.Meanwhile, Karasov notices one of the previous French pimps working girls, Maissa (Noémie Lenoir) is still standing where her bosses just got murdered. Karasov asks her if she wants to work for him and she quickly says 'yes'. Charmed by her ability to get in line and know her place, Karasov offers her a ride with him (implying she will be a kept woman and will not be forced to have sex like the others) and she quickly gets into the car. Karasov then yells at the others to get to work. Anna stands on the street corner, tears in her eyes.15 YEARS LATERAnna is in a nice restaurant. She receives a call and tells the person on the other side of the line that the plan is in motion.A group of six local thugs in a parking garage spot a black Audi. They walk up to it, planning to steal it. Frank Martin (Ed Skrein) sees this and uses his phone to open the two front doors, knocking two of them to the ground. Seeing, Frank, the leader of the thugs tells him to hand over the keys. Frank says that's not going to happen. The six thugs attack Frank, and he makes short work of them using his martial arts training, and using their own weapons (knives, a taser) against them. He has the leader in a headlock when he looks at his watch. "You're going to make me late," Frank says. "I hate being late." Frank knocks him out and drives away.Frank drives and looks at his watch, sighing. He's late.Frank picks up his father, Martin Sr. (Ray Stevenson). Martin Sr. tells his son that he late. Frank says he is only 30 seconds late, but his father counters late is late regardless of the time. As they drive off, Frank asks his dad about his retirement and Martin Sr. says he will now get 791 Euros a month in retirement money. Frank gets a call with an unlisted number. His father asks if he is going to answer it. Frank shakes his head no. "I don't use the phone when I'm driving," he says.Meanwhile, a Chinese woman, named Qiao (Wenxia Yu), is in a hotel room with two men, waiting for Anna. One of the men, the accountant of Karasov's money, is angry that Anna is late since he is the one that pays them. Anna finally arrives and the man says they should get the party started."My sentiments exactly," Anna replies before pulling a silenced pistol out her bag and shooting the accountant and his guard in the head. Anna and Qiao get to work, setting up a line of towels that lead out of the bathroom to the bodies. Anna then adds in the body of a dead independent prostitute to fake Qiao's death, making sure to add Karasov's necklace to the body. They use lighter fluid and a dryer in running water to cause a fire and burn all three bodies past recognition.Frank and his father have dinner at his house. Frank asks what he has planned for the future. Martin Sr. he plans to buy a boat with the money he has saved up. Frank dryly comments on that despite his father working in "water purification" he always worked in dangerous locations implying that Martin Sr. used that as a cover to be a soldier/spy. Frank gets a call from the same unlisted number. Anna asks if he is willing to do a job. Frank says he doesn't take contracts over the phone and asks to meet. Anna says okay and sets a meet for 2:00 pm the next day.Meanwhile, Karasov is on his yacht, surrounded by women and his two partners, Yuri and Imasova. Maissa is still there, as Karasov's loyal de facto girlfriend/kept woman. Maissa gets a call and hands it to Karasov. There has been an "accident" involving the accountant.Karasov and Maissa meet with Inspector Bectaoui (Samir Guesmi) who shows him the corpses of the three bodies, saying the first two have been identified. Karasov asks why he wasted him time showing them then. Bectaoui then shows him the third body, of a woman and asks if he recognizes one of his "hostesses." Karasov insists he is a legitimate businessman but Bectaoui counters he is not accusing him of anything and it would be a moot point to do so since many on the force have enjoyed the company of his hostesses. Karasov makes it clear that if he does try to accuse him, he better have an army with him.Frank meets with Anna at a local restaurant and lays out his three rules: there will be no names mentioned between them (at least not real names), the deal cannot be changed once it's agreed on, and he is not to know what he is transporting. All of the rules are so he can maintain plausible deniability in case things go wrong. Anna says he will be picking up one passenger (herself) and transporting two packages for a total of 104 kilos to their destination from the Mediterranean Bank in three hours. Frank agrees to the terms, and says one minute after 5:00 pm he leaves, with or without her. Frank leaves to get ready. Anna calls someone on her phone, telling them they are good to go.Meanwhile, Martin Sr. is at the store, buying an expensive bottle of wine.Frank is at a local mechanic shop, working on his car to get it ready. He calls his dad and tells him he will have to miss dinner since some things came up. Martin Sr. sees a pretty woman needing to change a flat tire, and tells his son he will just have to share dinner with someone else. Frank says that sounds good and hangs up. Martin Sr. goes up to the woman and offers to help her change the tire. When he is distracted, she pulls out a stun gun and knocks him unconscious, stuffing him in the trunk. The woman is Gina (Gabriella Wright), Anna's third and final conspirator in her plot.At 5:00 pm, Frank is waiting outside the bank. Anna appears in a blue dress and a blonde wig. Frank asks where the two packages are. Anna says they will be there in a minute. Frank counts down the seconds. As he does, two other women, a Slav named Maria (Tatiana Pajkovic) and Qiao in a similar disguise as Anna, get into the car. Frank asks what is going on and Anna explains that Maria and Qiao are her packages and weigh exactly what she told him. Frank wants to bail, thinking she is changing the deal, when Maria pulls out a gun and puts it to his head. Frank is less than scared, saying that isn't the first time a gun has been put to his head. Maria replies it will be the first time someone fires it though. Needing him to move (since nearby police are getting suspicious) Anna shows him a cell phone video of his father, who they have kidnapped in order to ensure his cooperation. Frank having no other choice revs the engine and drives away from the bank with the police in fast pursuit. Despite throwing numerous police cars and motorcycle officers his way, Frank is able to evade them all, putting most of them out of commission via car crashes due to precise turns and movements. He takes the three to a parking garage where they switch cars. Anna asks why they are leaving evidence behind but Frank says they are not, and pushes a button, blowing up the car and every trace they were in it.Karasov meets with the bank manager who shows him the video footage of Anna and her conspirators taking him hostage. However, they only broke into the safety deposit box of Karasov's accountant which had jewels, some money, and a little black book ledger. Karasov vows to find out who is responsible and make them pay. Maissa says she will do an "inventory" of their girls and see if anyone is missing, in case this is an inside job.Frank drives the three women back to their safe house, where he sees his father handcuffed and calmly drinking a beer. Anna wants to talk about a new deal, but Frank will have none of it. He just wants his father back and to leave. However, Anna tells him that his father has been poisoned and will die within 12 hours if he is not given an antidote, which only they have. Frank can kill them, but if he does, he kills his father too. Frank seethes in anger but has no choice but to go along with the next step of their plan.Meanwhile, Karasov meets with Maissa who has lined up all the girls Karasov currently owns. She says four are missing. Since Karasov believes one of the girls was killed in the hotel fire, he believes three of his girls are doing this to him.Back at the safe house, Frank notices Anna's necklace and recognizing it, quickly realizes that the plan Anna and her friends are trying to accomplish isn't just about the money; it is personal revenge against Karasov, the man they hold responsible for ruining their lives.Frank drives Anna to a hospital. Frank asks why they are here. Anna asks if he has ever played doctor. Frank, with a stolen white jacket, poses as a doctor with Anna in a wheelchair as a patient. He calls an office and poses as 'Dr. Smith', coming for some gases necessary for surgery. When they get to the office, they knock out the guy at the desk and steal a tank of gas.Meanwhile at the safe house, Martin Sr. watches a soccer game with Gina, drinking vodka. They talk about her home country and Martin Sr. impresses her a bit with his knowledge of it. She leans in to kiss him, having been seduced a bit by him, only to be interrupted by Qiao who tells her they got the gas, so the next stage of their plan can begin.Maria walks up to a local gang and asks if they speak English and are willing to make one thousand Euros each. The men all quickly agree and follow her.Yuri is at his plane, where he lives all the time. He wants to leave but they don't have clearance. Yuri tells his guard he wants the pilot to leave the second they can.Maria goes to a hotel bar and picks up a man and takes him back to his room. As soon as she gets him inside, she pulls out a gun and tells him to sit down.Frank drives Anna to a club that Imasova owns. Gina and Qiao are already there, once again in their blue dresses and blonde wigs to avoid identification. Frank parks around back (after knocking out a guard) and tells them he will replace the tank. After they do what they need to do, they will meet back at the car.Anna, Gina, and Qiao go into the club and dance with some of the guys as well as each other to kill time.Frank finds the fog machine system and switches out one of the tanks for the gas. He then texts Anna that the tank is ready so she and her two friends race to the bathroom and put on gas masks they had hidden there earlier. Meanwhile, when caught messing with the tanks, Frank is forced to knock out a club employee. When he drags him into a break room he accidentally locks the door. Turning around, he is surprised to see three other men there. Frank tries to make up a story of the guy being sick but they don't buy it. Frank notes they probably wont just give him the key to open the door. The men stand up and begin to fight Frank.Back in the main club area, the DJ hits the fog machine button and it pumps the gas into the building, knocking out Imasova and everyone else. Anna, Gina and Qiao walk through the club and get to his office and copy his fingerprints with a scanner. They are now able to access his bank accounts. Using the ledger, the find the right code and log in.Frank is still battling the men in the break room and a fourth man joins the fray. He uses a vacuum cord to twist and subdue some of the men into positions where he can hit them. Trapped in a narrow hallway, Frank uses the shelving units to beat and incapacitate the men. Moving back into the main room, Frank fights the four with pipes, knocking them out.Back in Imasova's office, Anna transfers 100 million of his money into her account. The three get back to the car but Frank isn't there. Anna calls Frank who is still busy with the goons. Taking the call and realizing he has to leave, Frank ties a vacuum cord around the leg of one man who tries to still fight him and string him up over the rafters. He then holds that man in place by looping the other end of the cord around the neck of a second man. He pockets the key and leaves, but not before telling them they should have just given him the key in the first place.Frank finally meets them at the car, only to see four more men have arrived outside to stop them. Frank and the three girls get inside the car. Frank opens the sun roof and puts the car into neutral. He tells them no matter what, not to touch a thing in the car until he gets back. Frank steps outside and begins to systemically beat every man that comes out trying to stop him. Despite that, Qiao and Gina freak out about the car still moving towards a locked gate and want to stop it. Anna says they will listen and wait for Frank. Frank eventually knocks out the last guy, climbs back through the sun roof and floors the car through the gate, making their escape. "We're late," Frank says. "My dad hates when I'm late."The next morning, Yuri learns he can finally take off in his plane. A pilot and a stewardess arrive. It is Martin Sr. and Maria. Yuri wants to know what happened to his pilot and Martin Sr. says that he got food poisoning from bad oysters. Yuri calls the pilot, who is being held hostage by the gang that Maria recruited. The pilot vouches for Martin Sr., which calms Yuri. Martin Sr. gets ready to take off while Maria, under Yuri's request, pours some champagne. However, she laces it with a drug to knock him out. Yuri tells his guard to retire to the back room, and asks Maria to keep him company as he takes a sip.Yuri passes out due to the drugs. Maria locks the room where Yuri's guard is. She takes Yuri's fingerprints via scanner, so the group can access his money too. She then calls the gang in the pilot's hotel room to let him go and gives them the combination to the safe, which has their payment.As Martin Sr. pretends to take off, Maria comes in and tells him "its done." The co-pilot realizes something is wrong so Martin Sr. knocks him out and they proceed to flee. However the co-pilot slumps over the controls and accidentally causes the plane to accelerate to the shock of the control tower that can no longer get in contact with him. Martin Sr. and Maria go down to the emergency exit hatch of the plane, but at the speed the plane is moving at, they cannot escape without getting themselves killed in the process. He calls his son, who is nearby with the other girls in the car. As police units converge on the plane, and Yuri's guard breaks through his locked door, Frank drives under the hatch and times it with his father for him and Maria to jump. Just as they are about to jump though, Maria is shot by Yuri's guard, and Martin Sr. must return fire. The two are still able to jump into the car safely and the six drive off, with two cop cars in pursuit.Meanwhile, Yuri comes to, and is able to get to the control and stop the plane before he drives off the runway.Back in the car, Frank is looking for a mode of escape. He sees a ramp that is used for passengers and sees that at a certain moment it will line up with a tunnel that leads right back to the terminal. Timing his jump perfectly, Frank drives the car up the ramp back into the tunnel, racing the car through the terminal and out the front entrance, escaping.Karasov is in bed with Maissa looking at an old military photo. He sees Frank. Apparently they served together. He gets a text from Imasova saying he has been robbed.Back at the safe house, the five pull the wounded Maria out of the car. Frank wants nothing to do with it, saying he just wants the antidote for his father. Anna reveals they lied, there was no poison. Frank wants to leave, but his father wants to save Maria and together the five improvise to get the bullet out of her and close up the wound until they can properly patch her up. Martin Sr. pulls out the bullet and with a combination of sugar and cobwebs they close up the wound for the time being.Karasov meets with Imasova at the nightclub who explains that he and all his customers were knocked out by gas and his money is gone. Imasova shows him security footage of Frank fighting his men, and Karasov confirms for himself that Frank is responsible in part for his recent misfortune. Imasova is angry, thinking that Karasov is trying to double cross him, but Karasov denies it. He asks for six hours to bring those responsible to justice.At the safe house, Frank watches as his father has some fun with Gina and Qiao. He goes into another room and douses his busted hands in ice water to dull the pain. Anna comes in and apologizes for what she has put him and his father through and wants to make it up to him. She disrobes and they kiss and have sex.Later in bed, Anna tells him that no matter what happens she will finish what she has started. Frank asks when she was forced into prostitution and Anna tells him at age 12. As an increasingly horrified Frank listens to her story, Anna explains she grew up in an impoverished town with few opportunities. She had just come home from working at a factory when she saw her mother talking with a handsome man in a nice suit. The man was Karasov. He told Anna that she could work for him. Her mother told her it was okay and Anna went with him. It wasn't until it was too late that Anna realized that her own mother sold her for 500 dollars. Because of her family betrayal, and Karasov ruining not only her life but countless others, Anna will not stop her plan to collapse his entire empire. "Do you know what it feels like to be considered trash?" Anna asks Frank. Frank gets dressed and gets his father who is in the bed with Gina and Qiao. "Time to go Dad," Frank says. "Really?" Martin Sr. replies with a hint of whine in his voice. Martin Sr. goes with his son, telling the girls goodbye.As they drive off, Martin Sr. and Frank discuss the various dark things they have seen in their lives and relate it to what Anna and her friends have experienced. "Being sold into prostitution, where death is the only option out is pretty dark," Martin Sr. notes, feeling great sympathy for them. Martin Sr. asks what his son is going to do. Frank tells him he is going to drop him off, then go to Paris for a while until the heat dies down. He wants to forget any of them existed. Martin Sr. chastises him for running away from people that need help, saying that is not the son he raised. Frank then says he spent years trying to do the right thing and in the end it got him nothing (implying his time in the service was marred by being forced out by corrupt influences). "It doesnt mean you stop doing the right thing," Martin Sr. says.Frank drops his father off at the consulate. "Send me a post card from Paris," Martin Sr. says, disappointed in his son. Frank drives off. A moment later he gets a call from his father. But it is actually Karasov who has kidnapped him. He tells Frank that he knows he has access to the girls that stole from him and he is to deliver them to Karasov if he wants to see his father alive again.Frank returns to Anna's safe house and explains the situation as she, Maria and Qiao burn all their equipment. Frank notices Gina missing, and Anna says she went back to her family. They always made the crimes always look like three people were committing them so in case things went bad, one of them would be able to escape. Anna says they will help him save his father.Frank and the girls drive to Karasov's location. They are taken to his boat via a speedboat. When he sees Frank, Karasov mocks him, saying it wasn't his fault the rest of their squad wanted to make some money on the side. If he had just played along, nothing would have happened (implying Frank was forced out of the army due to trying to implicate Karasov in corruption). Frank says he went to serve, not make money. Frank says he brought the thieves and asks for his father. Martin Sr. is brought into the room. Suddenly, Yuri and Imasova arrive with their guards. Karasov asks what they are doing on his boat. They tell him he texted them to have a meeting. Besides, they are suspicious of him already. They want to know what happened to their money.Meanwhile, someone in scuba gear dives under the boat and gets inside to the electrical mainframe. It is revealed to be Gina. She never left. Shes integral to the final phase of the plan.Anna then tells Yuri and Imasova that they were ordered by Karasov to steal their money and his show of finding them was just a means to tie up loose ends. Karasov tells her to shut up but his two partners and their guards pull guns and allow her to keep talking. Karasov tells the two he is going to put his gun down and show them his bank accounts, and prove his innocence. As he logs in, Gina supersedes him, and transfers the 200 million they stole into his account. When Yuri and Imasova see that, their suspicions are confirmed. The standoff boils over and breaks into a huge gunfight that leaves Yuri, Imasova, and many of their guards dead. Unfortunately, Maria and Qiao are also killed as well. With no gun, Frank is forced to use a fire extinguisher to blind the remaining gunmen so he, his father, and Anna can escape. As they charge out however, Karasov grabs Anna and drags her away. Meanwhile, Maissa discovers someone hacked the boat and goes down to investigate.Gina, still down in the controls, transfers all the money, all 320 million dollars back to Anna, wiping Karasov out completely. Maissa finds her and shoots her in her back, pushing her out of the way. Maissa tries to log back into the system and recover the money but cannot. Seeing a piece of rope, Gina uses what is left of her strength and strangles Maissa to death. Martin Sr. finds Gina and begs her to hold on. Gina tells him she's sorry and dies in his arms, much to his sadness.Frank in the meantime gets into a fight with some of Karasov's men in a room filled with medieval weaponry. He takes a battle axes and trades blow with one man until it eventually breaks. Finally, he grabs an orange flotation donut and twists the two men through it, leaving them stranded.Karasov pushes Anna into a speedboat and takes off. Anna calls out to Frank as he is attacked on deck. Frank quickly dispatches the goon, throwing him overboard. Jumping off the boat, he lands on the back of a jet ski where a goon is already on it. Frank kicks him off and gives pursuit. Karasov gets to land and drags Anna into a SUV and knocks her out. As he is about to drive away, Frank drives the jet ski on to the sand and jumps off, kicking through the passenger side window and kicking Karasov out of the car. Karasov runs for the cliffs with Frank not far behind.Anna comes to in the car. She finds a gun and makes sure it is loaded.On the cliffs, Karasov and Frank fight. First just hand to hand. Then Karasov pulls out a knife and slashes Frank a few times. Then he picks up rocks trying to beat Frank to death. They trade blows until Karasov has the means to bash Franks head with a rock. Before he can though, Anna shows up and shoots him four times in the chest. His dead body falls from the cliff to the waters below. Anna screams out in a combination of relief, agony, and sadness, knowing that it is finally over.However, Frank knows that she is the one that called Yuri and Imasova. She made sure Martin Sr. was kidnapped, so Frank would have no choice but to deliver Anna and the others to Karasov and thus be there to save them all. Now, she has to kill him to erase any trace of what she has done. Anna breaking down, tells him to stop, to not get any closer. Frank then says if he needed to be dead, why did she save him? He gets closer to Anna and makes her put the gun down. Frank tells Anna that her friends died for her, and Anna says she would have done the same for them. Frank says that whatever she wanted out of all of this had better been worth it. Frank tells her to go before kissing her one last time. "Is that the deal?" Anna asks. "That's the deal, Frank replies. Anna gets off the mountains and goes back to the car. She looks at Frank one last time, sadly, and then drives away.An undetermined time later, Martin Sr. is being interrogated by Inspector Bectaoui. Martin Sr. denies having anything to do with the mess and cannot identify the man who killed Karasov. Bectaoui has no choice but to release him, having no just cause to keep him locked up as a person of interest. Frank is waiting outside the police station, reading a paper detailing the death of Karasov and the dissolution of his criminal empire. Frank says they should go get dinner with a nice bottle of wine. Martin Sr. says that is the first smart thing he has said. They drive off.ONE MONTH LATERAnna, in a large mansion, free from her life of prostitution, sits at her pool with a tablet. Looking at her bank accounts, she begins to transfer money. She gives 75 million each to the families of Maria, Gina, and Qiao so they will never have to endure the horrors their daughters did. In addition she sends 10 million each to Frank and his father for their trouble, leaving the last 75 million for her, allowing Anna to have a life of peace.Frank Martin, a former special operations mercenary, who is living a perilous lifestyle, transporting classified packages for questionable people. Things get complicated when prostitute Anna and her three accomplices Gina, Maria, and Qiao orchestrate a bank robbery and kidnap Martin's father. It's all part of a grand plan to take down the human trafficker who victimized her years earlier.

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