British actor Jason Statham is well-known for portraying tough, rough-around-the-edges characters in violent action thrillers, starring in titles like Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, The Italian Job, and the Fast & Furious franchise. As The Guardian once said, “You know what you’re getting with a Jason Statham film. He will beat people up. He will crash cars. He will do an unconvincing American accent.” And people will love it — usually.
He’s a prolific star with 55 movies under his belt, but he’s also begun playing bigger roles behind the scenes. So far, Statham himself, or his company, Punch Palace Productions, have produced four films from 2019 to 2024. The reception has been split down the middle, with two failing financially and getting roasted by viewers, while the others have thrived. The common thread, however, is Statham’s portrayal of big, bold, not-to-be-messed-with heroes who have a penchant for brutality and the best of intentions.
4 Expend4bles (2023)
The Expendables is an action franchise that centers around a group of mercenaries who take on various high-stakes missions, from rescues to assassinations, armed to the teeth. Though all the films have a star-studded ensemble cast, Sylvester Stallone is heavily featured in the role of team leader Barney Ross. He was deeply involved with the franchise, even co-writing each of the first three films.
However, when it came to The Expendables 4 (stylized as Expend4bles), the last of the series, he decided to take a step back from the production due to creative differences. As a result, his screen time is limited, and his character hands leadership of the team over to his right-hand man, Lee Christmas, who Jason Statham portrays in all the movies. Life imitated art in this way, as Stallone suggested that Statham produce the film, replacing him as an integral part of the production.
Due to various setbacks regarding the script, the production team, the cast members, and the COVID-19 pandemic, Expend4bles was pushed back several times. It was finally released in 2023, nearly a decade after The Expendables 3. This time around, the team takes on a mission to thwart the efforts of mercenary Suarto Rahmat (Iko Uwais). Rahmat is attempting to steal nuclear bombs on behalf of a terrorist named Ocelot, who intends to incite WWIII. Christmas, a knife expert, tries to prevent this global catastrophe by working alongside his well-known Expendables team members.
Expend4bles was a Huge Flop
Unlike its predecessors, Expend4bles was a box office disaster, only grossing half of its $100 million budget. Both critics and audiences lambasted the movie, citing poor CGI and special effects, a boring script, and lazy directing. The bright spots seemed to be Jason Statham’s acting and the blips of comedic relief in between the action. Statham got brutally honest about Stallone’s small role in the film, telling Cinema Express, “He is absent for reasons we don’t talk about, we have to guide ourselves through this ocean without him. There is something about not having him around that doesn’t feel right … we are trying to do our best.” In an ironic parallel to the story’s narrative, it seems Stallone’s (and Barney’s) glaring absence shook his colleagues and potentially led to the demise of the franchise.
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3 Meg 2: The Trench (2023)
- Release Date
- August 4, 2023
Directed by (weirdly enough) Ben Wheatley, Meg 2: The Trench is the sequel to 2018’s The Meg and is based on the 1999 novel The Trench by Steve Alten. With Jason Statham in the lead, the series incorporates his real-life diving experience as he plays Jonas Taylor, a deep-sea diver who specializes in search and rescue. In the original movie, Taylor comes across a massive creature, a Megalodon or “Meg,” a massive prehistoric shark thought to be extinct. In the battle between action hero and monster, Statham’s character prevails, unsurprisingly.
In Meg 2, six years have passed since the events of The Meg, and Taylor now finds himself fighting environmental crime and helping to explore the Mariana trench where the Megalodon was found. In addition to coming across more Megs, he discovers an illegal oceanic mining operation being run by a mercenary who has a vendetta against him, and an underwater battle begins.
Did Meg 2 Satisfy Audiences?
Reviews for Meg 2: The Trench were mixed, but many had similar critiques: the story dragged on far too much for a supposed action thriller and somehow turned the shark into a B-plot in a “man vs. shark” movie. Despite being nominated for Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Statham), and Worst Director (Wheatley) at the 44th Golden Raspberry Awards, Meg 2 managed to succeed at the box office, grossing nearly $400 million.
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2 The Beekeeper (2024)
- Release Date
- January 12, 2024
In Jason Statham’s most recent action thriller, directed by David Ayer, a metaphor likening beekeeping to well-intentioned vigilantism is taken to the extreme. In The Beekeeper, Statham plays Adam Clay, a clandestine human intelligence operative who sets out for revenge after his kind-hearted landlady becomes a victim of a phishing scam that steals millions of dollars from her charity — and a literal beekeeper. What is the intelligence agency he turns to for information called? The Beekeepers, naturally.
Clay is a one-man wrecking ball determined to get justice by any means necessary as he battles those responsible for the scam, evil tech mogul Derek Danforth (Josh Hutcherson) and his lackeys, and CIA operatives secretly trying to orchestrate his execution. And the means are usually pretty gory. As Ayer explained to Cinema Blend, “The metaphor of the beekeeper is this idea that there’s this sort of invisible hand that can come in and fix the hive, that can fix society when it can’t fix itself.”
Statham Brings The Beekeeper to Life
Successful at the box office, grossing over $150 million against a budget of $40 million, The Beekeeper became even more successful on streaming, with audiences devouring it up. That’s because the movie succeeds at what it is at its core: an action movie. Statham is praised for achieving the gruff badassery he’s known for in his films, and the movie as a whole is characterized as an easy-to-watch, well-crafted thriller. However, as MovieWeb wrote in its review, “His honeybee business all feels a bit silly, and that the film embraces every obvious pun in the book.”
In fact, in preparation for The Beekeeper, Statham spent time learning the craft of beekeeping and is actually interacting with real bees in the scenes where his character is. The peaceful harmony of these moments is in stark contrast to the gruesome action that comes later. Clay has two sides, a zen beekeeper and a violent killer, and Statham’s reputation as a rough-and-tumble action hero, coupled with his dedication to authenticity, brings that juxtaposition to life.
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1 Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
Hobbs and Shaw
- Release Date
- August 2, 2019
- Runtime
- 133 minutes
- Distributor(s)
- Universal Pictures
Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw is the first spin-off in the Fast & Furious franchise, premiering between the eighth and ninth installments, The Fate of the Furious (2017) and F9 (2021). In this buddy comedy action thriller, Jason Statham stars as Deckard Shaw, a mercenary and former British Special Forces officer who is forced to team up with his rival, government agent Luke Hobbs, played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Battling their disdain for each other, the pair are tasked by the CIA with tracking down a supervirus called Snowflake in an effort to stop a terrorist group from wiping out humanity.
Hobbs & Shaw Is Blockbuster Gold
There was some controversy during the production of the movie when longtime Fast & Furious producer Neal H. Moritz filed a lawsuit against Universal Pictures for breach of oral contract and committing promissory fraud after he was removed as a lead producer on Hobbs & Shaw. The case was eventually settled, and the only producers credited on the film are stars Statham and Johnson, along with two others. The movie was a bona fide box office smash, grossing $760 million against a $200 million budget, with the popularity of the Fast franchise likely contributing.
It was also well-received by critics, many of whom claimed it didn’t reach the heights of other Fast films but was incredibly successful as a blockbuster action flick. The movie was repeatedly described as “over the top,” with IndieWire writing, “Hobbs & Shaw is an old-school screwball comedy that just happens to feature two action stars.” The plot is, by definition, unbelievable, and you won’t walk away with any profound insights, but if you’re looking for two hours of flying cars and explosions, along with Statham nearing his most charming and charismatic, this one’s for you.
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