Rating: C
Dir: Ric Roman Waugh
Star: Jason Statham, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Bill Nighy, Bryan Vigier
It’s wild to realize that Statham’s breakthrough film, The Transporter, came out twenty-four years ago. Not just because it’s that long – and incidentally, happy birthday to Jason, since he turns fifty-nine today. But also because this makes me realize how little has changed for its star over that time. Normally, actors will change, develop and grow over a quarter-century. In 2002, Bryan Cranston was the goofy dad from Malcom in the Middle. Matthew McConaughey was appearing in Reign of Fire. And Robert Downey Jr. was barely out of rehab. Statham, however, is still doing exactly what he was doing then: making action films where his taciturn hero has to protect a young woman.
This isn’t particularly a criticism. He’s good at it, he clearly enjoys it, and I like watching him do it. It is scary how he looks almost identical. On the other hand, I’m impressed he looks as strong and agile as he did. I wonder if there’s a painting in his attic which is aging less gracefully. But that such thoughts were being contemplated is perhaps a bit of an indictment of this, which offers little that The Transporter didn’t do better – likely due to the watchful eye of director/action choreographer Corey Yuen. Waugh has no shortage of stunt experience, to be sure. But his directorial work has been largely forgettable in this area – at least on the smaller scale needed here. Greenland had its moments.
What you have is Michael Mason (Statham), who lives as a recluse on a remote Scottish island [demerit for having Ireland play the part of the Hebrides!]. One day, the boat which brings him supplies sinks in a storm, and he rescues Jessie (Breathnach), the niece of the captain, who used to be Mason’s comrade in the Marines. However, a subsequent mainland trip allows facial recognition software to spot Mason, tagging him as a terrorist with a kill order. The authorities sent a team to execute it, and him. You will be unsurprised to hear, it does not go well for them. Mason and Jessie go on the run, hunted by the former Chief of MI6, Stephen Manafort (Night), for whom Mason represents a nasty loose end.
It’s all perfectly predictable, hits exactly the story beats you would expect on the way to the inevitable confrontation between Mason & Manafort (top), and is delivered with competent blandness across the board. It’s a bit disappointing, since The Beekeeper elevated Statham’s profile, and was his best film in a while. But the law of diminishing returns seems to have kicked in, first with A Working Man, and now this. Fingers crossed for next year, when we’ll get The Beekeeper 2, by the director of the awesome The Night Comes for Us, and the wonderfully titled Jason Statham Stole My Bike, by the director of Atomic Blonde. Again: that I found myself looking up Statham’s future projects while this was playing, is probably a sign of significant shortcomings.