“Blitz” (2011)
Almost certain to be the least popular inclusion on this list, “Blitz” from director Elliott Lester (HBO‘s “Nightingale” and the upcoming Arnie-starrer “478” on which word is eerily silent) is one of those films that I usually find myself alone in defending. But I still don’t really understand why: featuring a terrific Paddy Considine performance (not that there’s really any other sort), and a turn by Aiden Gillen as a serial killer that is at least remarkable for not being a riff on the sneering political manipulator character he’s played on both “The Wire” and “Game of Thrones,” plus strong support from David Morrissey, Mark Rylance, Zawe Ashton and Luke Evans, it would be worth it for the supporting cast alone. But it’s also remarkable for Statham, not just because it’s a low-budget British film that oddly punctuates a long string of Hollywood productions and sequels for the actor, but also for the character he plays. Yes, he’s a tough guy, and yes, there’s a fair bit of head-cracking to be done, but Statham’s Detective Sergeant Brant is also an overt homophobe teamed with Considine’s openly gay Sergeant Nash, and as unexpectedly well-handled as that relationship is, it already makes “Blitz” about 200% more interesting than the average cops-chase-a-cop-killer drama. In fact the development of their relationship is really what makes “Blitz” less a serial killer thriller than a buddy cop movie, albeit one of a more outwardly serious cast than “Lethal Weapon.” Sure, Considine has more to do to make something out of his part, which is underwritten on the page but a scene-stealer in practice, but without someone of Statham’s stoic, bullish masculinity (and willingness to appear unlikable) to play against, the dynamic wouldn’t work at all.
“Redemption” (2013) aka “Hummingbird”
Writer/director Steven Knight, speaking around the time of his triumphant one-man-show “Locke,” said this of his more-or-less buried directorial debut, “Redemption”: “I think the distributors didn’t know what to do with Jason not being ‘Jason.'” And it’s true that his character in this film is different from the Statham archetype — he’s a homeless, alcoholic, PTSD-afflicted deserter who lucks into a fancy apartment and a stacked credit card for a summer and briefly gets his act together, while romancing a nun who used to dream of being a ballet dancer. It is also, as that logline might suggest, totally bonkers: a never wholly successful attempt to meld violent thriller with human drama and the minute observation of London subcultures (here the Chinese mob) that Knight as a writer did more successfully with illegal immigrants in “Dirty Pretty Things” and the Russian mafia in “Eastern Promises.” Also, both those films were directed by more experienced filmmakers, while here Knight seems slightly overwhelmed; DP Chris Menges is on terrific form, but the film’s tone varies wildly and there’s not a single second in which we believe in the central relationship. Despite all that, it’s a very sincere and creditable attempt on Statham’s part to do something new, and if the film tilts off its axis during its too-slick action scenes, or when an avenging Statham threatens to kill some guy with a spoon, it’s not really his fault. It seems even Knight didn’t quite know what to do with Jason not being “Jason” either and his solution was to occasionally lapse into “Jason” tropes, to the detriment of an otherwise compelling, if flawed film.
“Spy” (2015)
With the greatest of respect to everyone who expressed surprise that Statham could crack a joke in Paul Feig‘s delightful “Spy,” it’s clear you just weren’t paying attention. Statham’s grim-faced exterior and well-documented bone-crunching abilities have never been delivered with the kind of unexamined, po-faced seriousness of a Sylvester or a Jean-Claude. There has always been an element of self-awareness, if not to the roles themselves, then certainly to his choice of them, and so for us longtime converts, his self-parodic role here was simply a confirmation of what we’d long known: Statham is really funny. One of a select, hopefully growing, list of beefcake dudes willing to utterly surrender their dignity for a few laughs in female-fronted comedies (John Cena and LeBron James in “Trainwreck“; Chris Hemsworth in “Ghostbusters“) — and seriously there is nothing sexier — the Statham character is the foil and the minor antagonist for Melissa McCarthy‘s agent, but he’s also a kind of walking acknowledgement that the actor has known all along just how much of his career to date has been based on macho posturing. After all, he delivers lines like: ” I once used defibrillators on myself. I put shards of glass in my fuckin’ eye. I’ve jumped from a high-rise building using only a raincoat as a parachute and broke both legs upon landing; I still had to pretend I was in a fucking Cirque du Soleil show! I’ve swallowed enough microchips and shit them back out again to make a computer. This arm has been ripped off completely and re-attached with *this* fuckin’ arm” — all of which I’m pretty sure happened in one or other “Crank,” “Transporter” or “Expendables” movie. And it’s not just the quippy dialogue and comic chemistry he has fun with, he also takes a mean pratfall — the way only a naturally agile, un-clumsy person can. All of which suggests that when the time comes and, as all action heroes must, he starts to take on less physically demanding roles, Statham might experience a smoother transition than many an action star gone before.
Honorable Mentions
Yes, don’t be snarky, there are actually plenty of other titles we could have chosen. Well, there are some: Boaz Yakin‘s “Safe” is a pretty decent little thriller with nice action sequences in which the (again!) recently bereaved Statham protects a brainy little girl from (again!) the Chinese mafia while his (again!) corrupt ex-colleagues in the police try to play the Russian and Chinese mobs off against each other. David R Ellis‘ “Cellular” is a grimy but fun B-movie in which Statham takes a rare enough role as a bad guy — something he’d repeat in “Furious 7” which is only not here because it’s not really a Jason Statham movie so much as an unstoppable money-generating machine that will soon feature cameos by every actor physically capable of holding a gun and saying “familia.” He will, however, return as Furiverse baddie Deckard Shaw in “Furious 8.” I also kinda liked Taylor Hackford‘s “Parker” though I’ll be honest and say I can’t really remember why, nor whether Statham was truly responsible for it.
Speaking of “The Mechanic” and pointless remakes: he’s actually not bad in “The Italian Job” though, really, people, why? And still speaking of pointless remakes: as credibility-jeopardizing as this whole list has been, it would have been borderline career suicide to have included a Paul W.S. Anderson title, but here in the safety of the honorable mentions that apparently no one reads, I can confess to having really enjoyed “Death Race.” It’s basically “Hunger Games” + “Robot Wars” + “The Shawshank Redemption” with none of the satirical intent of the Roger Corman original, and yet I regret not one minute of the 110 it occupied.
That can’t be said for some of the lesser backwaters that my Stathophilia has brought me to: the Sylvester Stallone-scripted “Homefront” is unutterably dull; “Revolver” and “Ghosts of Mars” are pretty much unwatchable; “The Killer Elite” might actually be his career low point; and all of the “Expendables” movies are so crashingly uninteresting that even if I wasn’t excluding them on the grounds of being ensembles and not Statham movies per se, I’d be excluding them on the grounds of being crap. But lest we forget this feature was designed as a celebration, let me leave you with this jolt of pure joy: Statham’s real first onscreen gig was not ‘Lock Stock’ but this awful Shamen video in which he dances, oiled up, in a leopard print thong — from about 37s and then again at 1m41 below. If this does not convince you that Statham’s career is founded on not taking himself too seriously and an enlightened approach toward the use of his sexual allure for both the gays and the straights in the audience, I don’t know what will.
And couple that with the below KitKat ad which might, in the end, be the finest single snippet of performance in his career to date, and you have every justification I can find for being a Jason Statham fan. Have any more? Tell us below.