by Jill Vranken, Staff Writer

You could make the argument for Jason Statham being his own little microgenre in the world of action/thriller movies. Statham, whose new movie A Working Man hits theaters this month, has carved out a rather spectacular niche for himself in his twenty plus years in the industry, that of a man who will give you a tough and uncompromising character tinged with the driest of humor and the occasional highly questionable American accent.

He also has quite the origin story: an avid footballer and diver, Statham went from representing England at the Commonwealth Games in 1990 to modelling to working on market stalls and selling on street corners. It was this last bit that director Guy Ritchie picked up on, casting him in his debut movie, the neo-noir black comedy Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in 1998. The pair teamed up again for 2000’s ensemble crime comedy Snatch, and the rest is history.

But how does one begin to watch Statham’s body of work? Do you absolutely need to be into action movies to get it? And how do you get used to the, and I cannot stress this enough, occasional highly questionable American accent? Fear not, dear reader, because you are in good hands with me, your resident Statham enjoyer of twenty years standing. I have picked out a curated collection of eight movies which will give you a good basic understanding of the man himself.

Before I start, I need to make you aware of two essential things you need to know when you start Statham’s filmography.

If you haven’t experienced Statham’s comedic timing yet, then you’re in for a treat because aside from being able to kick the asses of men twice his size, he’s also very funny.
I don’t know when the Cinematic Powers that Be decided that most of Statham’s characters should have ridiculous names, but they absolutely did decide this. So, it’s best if you just roll with it, really.

Snatch (dir. Guy Ritchie, 2000)

With the caveat that bits of this movie have probably not aged well, Snatch is an excellent gateway into Statham, who as part of this ensemble gets to flex those comedic muscles and turns in a stellar performance as unlicensed boxing promoter Turkish (named after a plane crash, as the character explains). The plot begins with a diamond heist in Antwerp, and spirals into a giant tangled knot which involves pigs, a squeaky toy, pawnbrokers, big East End accents and Brad Pitt as an Irish bare knuckle boxer named Mickey. Turkish and his business partner Tommy (Stephen Graham) bumble their way through the action, emerging as the unlikely heroes, and you will be rooting for them because Statham and Graham make for a very fun pairing.

The Transporter (dirs. Louis Leterrier, Corey Yuen, 2002)

Here flexing his other muscles, The Transporter is the movie that cemented Statham as an action superstar. Statham plays Frank Martin, a discrete and highly skilled driver for jobs which are less than legal. Living a solitary life (something which many of his characters have in common) in the South of France, Martin abides by three rules: 1) never change the deal, 2) no names and 3) never open the package. In the opening of the movie, we get a taste of Frank’s particular set of skills as he acts as a getaway driver for a trio of bank robbers and keeps an admirably cool head even when the robbers demand him to change the deal.

Martin’s quiet and measured life is thrown when he is hired to deliver a 50 kilogram package to an American client. When he discovers the package in question is a bound and gagged woman (Lai, played by Shu Qi), and is subsequently betrayed by his client, Frank sets out on a mission of revenge, in the process uncovering a human trafficking ring and finding a deeper connection with Lai.

The Transporter allows Statham to get down and dirty and fight - one notable scene sees him facing off against a gang of thugs in a garage, slick with motor oil. It also allows him to give you the gift of what is in my humble opinion the funniest action sequence in any of his films: the door kick.

The Italian Job (dir. F. Gary Gray, 2003)

Another ensemble action caper, this loose remake of the classic 1969 British comedy sees Statham take a smaller role as Handsome Rob, the wheelman in professional safecracker John Bridger’s (Donald Sutherland) team. On a mission in Venice, the team is betrayed by one of their own, and Bridger tragically loses his life. One year later, team fixer Charlie Croker (Mark Walhberg) gets the band back together, along with Bridger’s daughter Stella (Charlize Theron), and sets out for revenge.

As mentioned, Handsome Rob is a small role but it allows Statham to show off his driving skills, and the idea of a character who got his nickname from basically having a devoted gaggle of women write him letters while in prison is quite a fun one. A stellar ensemble cast, some very fun stunt moments, and a trio of colorful Mini Coopers racing to the Los Angeles River.

Crank (dirs. Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor, 2006)

His character’s name is Chev Chelios.
He’s a hitman who is betrayed when, in the middle of the night, a rival sneaks into his apartment and injects him with a Chinese synthetic drug which inhibits the flow of adrenaline and slows the heart to the point of stopping.
Chelios sets out to find an antidote and kill the man who did this to him.
In order to stay alive, Chelios must keep up his adrenaline at all times, which results in what I can only describe as huge menace behavior.
All of this happens and yet to the movie and Statham’s credit, not once does it feel ludicrous despite being really rather ludicrous.

Hummingbird (dir. Stephen Knight, 2013)

I will defend Hummingbird (released as Redemption in the US) until the proverbial cows come home because to me, this is Statham’s absolute best dramatic role. As Joseph Smith, a fugitive ex-Special Forces soldier who is now homeless and alcoholic, Statham shows a gentler, more fragile side to himself. On the run from a group of thugs one night, he breaks into a luxury apartment to escape them. When he finds out that the owner will be away for eight months, Joseph starts squatting in the apartment, assuming a new identity and using the apartment owner’s resources while looking for his friend.

His tender friendship/love with Sister Cristina (Agata Buzek), who runs the local soup kitchen feels so genuine it’s almost painful to watch, and while he does kick a fair amount of ass in this movie, he also moves you in a way he doesn’t often do.

Spy (dir. Paul Feig, 2015)

Statham’s best comedic performance? Look no further than his turn as CIA field agent Rick Ford, in Paul Feig’s spectacular comedy Spy. Feig, who is a huge fan of Statham and tailored the part of Ford for him specifically, clearly had a huge amount of trust in him, and that trust plays off in spades. Statham plays Ford completely deadpan straight, making the resulting product the answer to “what if James Bond swallowed Brooklyn 99’s Jake Peralta” and providing us with gems like this:

“Nothing kills me. I'm immune to 179 different types of poison. I know because I ingested them all at once when I was deep undercover in an underground poison-ingesting crime ring.”

Spy has absolutely every member of the cast on top form, with Melissa McCarthy’s CIA admin turned field agent ably assisted by the likes of British comedians Miranda Hart and Peter Serafinowicz, but it’s with Statham that she provides the movie’s standout moment, as Ford scares the bejesus out of her by showing up in her hotel room and treating her to an absolutely bonkers monologue which includes the quote:

“I watched the woman I love get tossed from a plane and hit by another plane mid-air. I drove a car off a freeway on top of a train while it was on fire. Not the car, *I* was on fire.”

Cinema!

I know this image is from *The Meg 2*, but how am I supposed to not put an image of Statham kicking a giant prehistoric shark? -Ed.

The Meg (dir. Jon Turteltaub, 2018)

How could you not at least like a movie where the premise is “Jason Statham fights a prehistoric shark”? As Jonas Taylor, Statham strikes a perfect balance of action, comedy and sensitivity (his interactions with Sophia Cai as little Meiying are so delightful), while at the same time also being sizzlingly sexy (Pajiba’s Kristy Puchko explains the appeal better than I ever can here).

Also, he does fight a prehistoric shark. And it’s amazing.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (dir. David Leitch, 2019)

I couldn’t not include at least one of his turns as the Fast Saga’s resident British menace Deckard Shaw, but I deliberately chose Hobbs & Shaw for three reasons:

You need little to no previous knowledge of any of the previous Fast movies to enjoy it.
It’s all the good buddy comedy parts of Fast 8 without any of the main plot, plus Statham gets to be protective of Vanessa Kirby as his sister, Hattie Shaw.
Resident British menace Deckard Shaw spends the whole movie being a resident British menace to Dwayne Johnson’s Agent Luke Hobbs and it’s a delightfully childish battle of pranks made all the more funny by the fact that the pranks are being enacted by these two men specifically.

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