FYI-10: Taking Lock & Stock of Britain’s Bruiser…
His film titles read like a job resume – a Transporter, a Mechanic, a Working Man and a Spy…
But among the Hollywood rogue’s gallery of hard men, Jason Statham holds something of a unique position – able to segue between blockbusters and singular lone-wolf fare and carve his own particular niche. John Mosby explores the relentless rise of a very particular British bruiser…
“Let me have men about me that are fat, sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o’ nights. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous.”
– Caesar, Julius Caesar (Act 1, Scene 2)
It’s fair to say that the average Jason Statham movie isn’t going to feature a Shakespearian soliloquy, nor win an Oscar or turn the industry on its head. That’s not meant to be a criticism – Statham has carved a successful modern niche of work that performs respectfully at the box-office and harkens back to the eighties vibe of stories built around hard men doing hard things and hardly feeling the pain. His movies usually form a familiar template with his character (or someone he cares about) having been wronged and him reluctantly taking up arms, legs and head-buts to right that wrong. Sometimes they are indistinguishable – trying to remember in which title a certain bone-cracking scene appeared is like saying ‘ It’s the Disney movie with singing in it…‘ or ‘It’s that episode of the Ghost Whisperer where Jennifer love Hewitt cries...’
And none of that matters because as Maximus once asked “Are you not entertained?”
Born in 1967, Statham’s destined career wasn’t immediately obvious in his childhood. He had an imposing frame and grew up enjoying martial arts, kickboxing and karate on a recreational level, but his adolescent days were mostly spent serving on London market stalls and jobs for his family. His interest in sports led him to take football and diving more seriously, to the extent that he became a member of Great Britain’s national diving team and ultimately was good enough to compete for his country in the 1990 Commonwealth Games. That exposure led to him being asked to model for French Connection, Tommy Hilfiger and Levi’s in their advertising campaigns – they wanted someone more earthy and less polished than the usual style and that mix of physicality, streetwise attitude and growing success was a potent one.
Statham’s earliest feature film roles are closely linked to director Guy Ritchie, the then enfant terrible of British cinema, specialising in tales of London wise-guys and would-be gangsters. Despite Statham’s lack of on-screen experience, Ritchie saw his potential and – given that one of the characters he was writing was a market-stall server – he offered Statham the role of ‘Bacon’, a small-time crook whose background was… a market stall worker. The film was 1998’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Statham became part of a regular ensemble of young actors that helped Ritchie break through as a film-maker. Lock, Stock… was followed by Snatch (2000) and Revolver (2005), but these were still more vehicles for other established names. For a while ex-footballer Vinnie Jones looked like the most likely to get the most benefit and subsequent attention and major Hollywood stars like Brad Pitt and Ray Liotta were eager to work with the new blood. Several films also included the likes of Dexter Fletcher and Jason Flemyng – who became firm friends of Statham – and who would turn up time and again and now have healthy careers of their own (Fletcher is now a director of note having also stepped in to save Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody after Bryan Singer departed).
“When you look back to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Statham) was charismatic, sure — sharp, confident, funny — but did any of us really think he would be the breakout star from that ensemble? Did we imagine the streetwise Guy Ritchie newcomer would become a global franchise anchor, a reliable box-office export and one of the defining action leads of his generation? Probably not. But that is part of the charm: Statham’s rise feels unlikely while at the same time, completely obvious…” says producer and casting director Mike Leeder.
Some of those early films’ relative successes also gave Statham the opportunity to start work as part of an ensemble on bigger, US-based films and the early Noughties would see him cast in some of his few forays into science-fiction and high concept cinema, all building blocks.
It’s true that Statham’s career won’t usually see him single-handedly fighting aliens in a galaxy far, far away or getting superpowers in the MCU but 2001 saw him making up numbers in Ghosts of Mars and as a supporting player in Jet Li’s multiversal The One. The closest he’d come to all-out monster movies would be nearly two decades later with the ‘Meg‘ films (2018 and 2023).
Being a reliable, talented performer is half the journey, but what Statham needed was a project that got him noticed. In 2002 he got the lead in Luc Besson’s The Transporter, the story of a man who would transfer risky cargo from one place to another for the right price and without asking questions. (Naturally drama unfolds when the latest ‘package’ turns out to be a living, breathing young woman…) The action element was front and centre, but Statham provided the human crux of it all, showing that he could bear the weight of being the singular star, rather than as a supporting player and that VFX wouldn’t overshadow him. The film would get two sequels, Transporter 2 (2005) and Transporter 3 (2008), neither of which messed too much with the established formula of fast deals and fast cars. With the mixed success of Mean Machine (2002), the remake of The Italian Job (2003) and the main villain in Cellular (2004) he was building up credits and kudos. He wasn’t beyond being part of a big cast – something that remains true to this day – but he was now in a position where his name itself was starting to carry weight. The likes of 2006’s Crank (with the high-concept idea of a man who must keep his adrenalin at its top level while he tracks down the people who poisoned him) was a gleeful guilty pleasure that produced a 2009 sequel, 2008’s The Bank Job and Death Race (a remake of the 1975 cult hit Death Race 2000) also helped to cement his reputation as a genuine go-to action star in a genre that was crying out for new blood.
In the 1980s and 1990s such success might have well gone one of two ways – cinematic royalty or ‘straight to video/DVD’ journeyman – both of which could be profitable if you kept up the momentum. Had Statham achieved success even a decade before he did, the conveyor belt of cult shelf-titles could well have been a middling fate. However, the landscape changed and became less defined. It’s no longer a and/or situation. Over the years, the increase in bandwidth and technology meant the video market shrank. The proliferation of video-stores on every corner became Starbuck coffee shops, cassettes became DVDs and even know the physical-media market is in a transitional phase (still popular by purists because of the fluid nature of digital rights elsewhere) and the convenience of streaming. The ‘poor relation’ aspect no longer holds true and there are plenty of films arriving on Netflix, Amazon Prime and the like that might not be jostling for statuettes and awards but still boast star names and might easily have claimed a position alongside the sure things of the cinema.
Statham’s brand of bravado no longer had just strong arms and fists, it also had legs and a wider canvas to explore. That would come in 2010 when an action legend cast him in the ultimate ensemble movie…
The kickers and punchers of past decades had segued into million-dollar tent-pole VFX efforts and then aged out to slightly more sedate roles or regular, lower-budgeted fare. But Sylvester Stallone’s passion project The Expendables had the remit of putting cinema’s toughest-ever tough guys in one movie that felt like a testosterone ticker-tape parade. Staham’s credentials made him a younger contender for inclusion, particularly with an international cast involved, but the film gave him the chance to shine and – probably even to his own surprise – he held his own against all the other massive names Schwarzenegger, Mel Gibson, Jean Claude Van Damme, Jet Li, Bruce Willis and Chuck Norris. His ‘Lee Christmas’ became one of the pillars of the franchise and the reliable right-hand man of Stallone’s ‘Barney Ross’. If there was any doubt Statham had ‘arrived’, and laid claim to his turn in the spotlight The Expendables and its three sequels would crush it with extreme prejudice.
What often separates Statham from the pack is a genuine, charismatic vibe and a sense of self-deprecation. He can handle lone wolf stories and/or be part of the greater whole – singular action outings or franchise staples. He can be a recurring piece of the Fast and Furious movies (including a spin-off teaming him with Dwayne Johnson) with speeding cars down freeways or the guy who sits in a lighthouse and isolates himself from the world (see last year’s Shelter) His characters may be men of few words on screen, but he delivers them with a twinkle in his eye and a sense of palpable confidence that’s usually matched by the action.
“Jason Statham’s appeal is that he feels both instantly recognisable and incredibly universal, the shaved head, the gravelly cockney accent, that physicality, the dry sense of humour and the feeling that while he could probably solve a problem verbally, he finds it easier to solve things with a hard stare and a headbut!” Mike Leeder laughs. “That combination travels incredibly well around the world: he’s British without being the well mannered English gentleman, he’s tough without being cartoonish, and funny without seeming desperate to prove he’s in on the joke. And it cuts through markets & languages… audiences around the world understand the Statham package without question, you know you’re gonna be entertained , and he’s got that kind of working man believability that makes even the most strained premise, be it the return of a Jurassic Shark in Meg to the Fast & Furious is he a good guy or a bad guy, through the absurd genius of Crank, somehow still grounded!”
And though stern-faced and capable of growling in a way that would make Wolverine jealous, Statham also has a sense of humour – as his instagram confirms. On screen, he appeared in the Melissa McCarthy vehicle SPY, sending up his hard-man persona as an agent making boastful claims about his abilities and the film’s bloopers are genuinely hysterical when he can’t keep a straight face. And next year, well the David Leitch-directed Jason Statham Stole My Bike (produced by Statham through his Punch Palace Productions – because every action star deserves their own development company) reflects the actor’s passion for motorbikes on and off screen and promises much on the title alone…
The Hollywood machine propels many into the firmament for a limited time, with longevity being the elusive key… but it’s hard to think of anyone from the modern era who has a grounded career quite like Statham. Here is a guy who can do a lot of his own stunts, yet is a champion for the stunt community. Keanu Reeves is an A-Lister with genuine martial arts ability and action credentials, but his projects range from action to romance and arguably has a broader canvas. Scott Adkins is a respected martial-artist with an impressive resume of action movies (and several high-profile entries like supporting roles in the likes of Doctor Strange and The Expendables) but is still looking for that one particular project and starring role to launch him as a true star to a wider audience. Jim Caviziel made waves in the Person of Interest series and, for a while, was a fan-favourite as a possible Batman that never transpired, but his often humourless almost robotic demeanour and facial expressions are minimalist at best and he has become better known for his extreme politics than regular output. You could argue that Alan Ritchson (of Reacher fame) is the closest American equivalent and another Bat-candidate, but the trajectory of his own longer career is still to come. (A gold medal and box-office platinum to the first person who can get Statham and Ritchson in the same film!).
It’s not that Statham’s formula for success is perfect – some projects, even by formula and trope standards, don’t make the grade and there’s been bumps along the way. Unfortunately, Mutiny – out now at the multiplex but making unanticipated news as it got accidentally released onto Amazon Prime during the last week of August and likely costing millions in potential compensation – is strictly for the faithful and isn’t the best billboard for Statham’s talents.
Yes, there’s blood, sweat and tears and most of the usual elements as our grizzled hero hands out some sea-going retribution against people-traffickers and the poster deliberately invokes the Die Hard classic marketing. But the story is slight, the characters paper-thin and the exposition as heavy as an anchor. It’s Statham on auto-pilot with the action bloody but basic and – most frustratingly – with none of the usual charm or banter… the result feels more like a tax write-off. But, again, Statham is the best thing in it and – notably – he’s one of the people who can shrug such things off and keep on keeping on. That’s his super-power.
“What is really remarkable is thinking about just how long Statham has been able to sustain his promise… he’s now had a 25 year career as a leading man! And he seems perfectly at home no matter what the packaging. Put him in a down-and-dirty actioner like The Transporter, Crank, The Mechanic or The Beekeeper and he gives the material exactly the hard-edged credibility it needs. Drop him into a big-budget franchise like Fast & Furious, The Expendables, or The Meg, and he scales up without losing the essential ‘Statham-ness‘. He has become one of those rare stars whose presence is practically a genre unto itself…”
Things will not be slowing down. There’s already a buzz for The Beekeeper 2, Fast Forever (the final F&F movie?) and… well, that promise of stolen bikes.
The gears and wheels keep on turning… and Statham seems up to whatever job title comes next…