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Jason Statham has a LOT of action movies to his name, but some are far better than others. Statham has had one of the wildest journeys to movie stardom of possibly any other actor, with his previous careers including working on street stalls, modeling and acting in music videos. His acting debut came with 1998’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, which was also Guy Ritchie’s directing debut.
From there, the two collaborated on Snatch, and while Statham may have seemed primed for a career in more comic roles, his future career took a wild left turn into action thanks to the shock success of The Transporter movies. It helped Statham’s transition to action that he had a background as an athlete and martial artist, and while he’s appeared in everything from thrillers to dramas throughout his career, Statham has become synonymous with action.
32 In The Name Of The King (2007)
On paper, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale sounds like it could be a real gas. It was an expensive adaptation of a famous video game, and in addition to Statham, it has a cast that includes Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds and John Rhys-Davies. In reality, it’s a turgid slog that attempted to launch a Lord of the Rings-style fantasy series only to crash and burn spectacularly at the box office.
31 Turn It Up (2000)
Statham’s first movie after Lock, Stock... and Snatch was Turn It Up, a long-forgotten action movie starring rappers Pras and Ja Rule. Statham is hammy fun as villain Mr. B, but the stilted performances from the two leads and a parade of gangster movie clichés make Turn It Up one of the most skippable films on Statham’s CV.
30 Wild Card (2015)
Another project that sounds fantastic on paper is Wild Card, which was written by screenwriting legend William Goldman, and adapted from his own novel. The book had previously been filmed as Heat in 1986 starring Burt Reynolds, with Wild Card casting Statham as Nick Wild, a gambling addict turned bodyguard in Vegas. Sadly, it’s a bust as both a drama and an action flick.
29 The Expendables 3 (2014)
Statham almost died filming Expendables 3 when a truck he was driving malfunctioned and drove off a pier. While the actor claims this near-death experience was a major turning point in his personal life, the sequel itself is one of the most disappointing action movies of the 2010s. With an outrageously stacked cast – including newcomers Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas and Wesley Snipes – it should have ruled, but a focus on a bland group of young Expendables and a PG-13 rating let it down badly.
28 War (2007)
After their planned fight scene was dropped from The One, War promised to finally give Statham and Jet Li the co-starring vehicle they deserved. While War has some decent action, it’s a surprisingly self-serious and not all that fun thriller. That said, it does have a genuine shocker of a twist.
27 Transporter 3 (2008)
2008 was a busy year for Jason Statham action movies, and he closed it out by ending the original Transporter series. Unfortunately, it’s the blandest of the bunch and is mostly held together by Statham’s central turn and some creative setpieces. The story is an afterthought and co-star Natalya Rudakova is distractingly wooden.
26 Killer Elite (2011)
Killer Elite has an incredible cast – including Clive Owen and Robert De Niro – and is based on a book by none other than Sir Ranulph Fiennes, father of Ralph. Unfortunately, Killer Elite never quite knows what it wants to be. A gritty, ’70s-style thriller? A trashy action movie? A contemplative drama about the mercenary life? It tries them all, leading to a convoluted, overlong story.
25 Parker (2013)
Many actors have taken on author Richard Stark’s classic pulp creation Parker, including Lee Marvin in Point Blank or Mel Gibson in Payback. Statham plays the titular thief who is double-crossed following a heist, and he later teams up with Jennifer Lopez’s character to seek revenge. Parker makes the mistake of sanding off the rough edges of the character, and the whole affair is just plain generic and bland.
24 Fast X (2023)
Fast X is the most expensive and overstuffed of the Fast And Furious movie saga to date and could be a sign the series needs to take a long pit stop. There are simply too many characters, subplots and setpieces jammed into Fast X, with Statham being largely wasted in an extended cameo.
23 Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023)
Like Wild Card and Parker before it, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre again features the name of Statham’s character (Orson Fortune) in the title. On the outside, it looks like a breezy heist comedy, and it has another stacked cast – Hugh Grant, Aubrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett, etc – to carry it. Still, there’s a curious lack of thrills or energy to the film, and it really feels like an elaborate excuse for the cast and crew to have an extravagant holiday in sunny locales.
22 F9 (2021)
F9 is another post-credit cameo for Statham, so the rest of F9 is business as usual, with Dom and crew going up against forgotten Toretto sibling Jakob (John Cena) whilst exploring the family’s past. Despite a wealth of setpieces, there’s little here that previous sequels haven’t done before – and a lot better.
21 Ghosts of Mars (2001)
Ghosts of Mars is Statham’s first action role, but he was once set to play the lead in the John Carpenter sci-fi action movie, which later filled by Ice Cube. The film was one of a wave of Mars-set movies that bombed in the early 2000s, and it was greeted with harsh reviews. In truth, it is one of Carpenter’s weakest outings and felt dated even upon release, but there’s cheesy B-movie fun to be had with it regardless.
20 Mechanic: Resurrection (2016)
Mechanic: Resurrection is a belated sequel that just might be the closest thing to a genuine movie adaptation of the video game Hitman to date. Resurrection feels like it was designed entirely around the action scenes, and it has some real highlights like the swimming pool assassination. Everything else about the sequel, from the plot to the villain, is boilerplate stuff.
19 Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw should have been a Tango & Cash for the modern age. This spinoff pairs the titular breakout characters from the Fast & Furious saga – played by Dwayne Johnson and Statham respectively – and pits them against Idris Elba’s charismatic villain. While the leads have great chemistry, Hobbs & Shaw has too much distracting filler like pointless celebrity cameos and side plots, and the action is too CGI-assisted to feel truly visceral.
18 The Transporter (2002)
The Transporter is basically the origin story for Jason Statham action movie, and transformed his career overnight. From the opening car chase to his greased-up fight in a bus depot, The Transporter knows Statham is a star in the making. The film surrounding him is mostly a letdown, from the distractingly lame comedy, dull bad guys and a chemistry-free romantic subplot.
17 The One (2001)
The One was another early attempt to make Statham a star, but it’s clear studios didn’t know what to do with him. Here, he’s given a wig and forced to use an ill-fitting American accent as his multiverse detective chases after the evil doppelganger of Jet Li’s innocent cop. The One is a fun but very silly slice of sci-fi action hokum from the Noughties that later set up more Jason Statham/Jet Li movie collaborations.
16 The Fate Of The Furious (2017)
The Fate of the Furious is a solid entry in the series, and just about gets the right balance with its large ensemble cast. The decision to make Vin Diesel’s Dom a reluctant villain gives the story an interesting energy and Charlize Theron is having fun as the latest villain. However, the chemistry between Statham’s Shaw and Johnson’s Hobbs is the undoubted highlight, as is Shaw’s daring rescue of Dom’s baby son from an airplane.
15 Homefront (2013)
Statham’s Homefront started life as a Rambo sequel penned by Sylvester Stallone himself. Instead, it was reworked as a Jason Statham action movie vehicle, whose retired DEA agent makes enemies of local drug dealers in a Louisiana town, headed up by James Franco’s “Gator.” Homefront is a routine thriller overall, but it’s got a game cast and the action is well-mounted when it arrives.
14 The Italian Job (2003)
A remake of the classic British crime caper starring Michael Caine, Statham plays a supporting role in the 2003 version of The Italian Job. The film is a lightweight, easily digestible blockbuster with a likable cast and some thrilling chases. It also predicted The Fate of the Furious, as Statham later reteamed with co-star Theron and director F. Gary Gray.
13 Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
Fast Five was a franchise reinventing smash, and Fast & Furious 6 largely rides on its coattails. This isn’t to imply it’s lazy, as it might be one of the saga’s most underrated in terms of action. It largely avoids the bloat that plagues later entries, while the runway setpiece is one of the wildest of the series. Statham’s Shaw makes a confident debut in a credits scene, announcing himself as the new big bad.
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