Statham. Are there two more glorious syllables in the English language? Since 1998, audiences have been astounded, aroused, and arounded by the English actor and martial artist, who would become one of the few bona fide action stars to emerge from the turn of the century. As the latest film in Jason Statham’s longest-running action series The Transporter opens this weekend, we find ourselves asking this very important question: where the heck did he go?!
With Ed Skrein taking over for Jason Statham in The Transporter: Refueled, we find ourselves at a crossroads, ready to consume more Statham but unable to do so. So this week on Now Streaming, we’re going to take a close look at the five best Jason Statham movies that you can watch right now, without additional cost, on instant streaming platforms throughout the internet. Let’s take a look!
Related: The Transporter Refueled | Exclusive Clip and Gallery
The Expendables 3 (Netflix / Amazon Prime)
Lionsgate
When you think about it, all of the Expendables movies were kind of a let down. Sylvester Stallone spearheaded an honest-to-goodness attempt to bring all the biggest action stars in the world together for a franchise of macho films, but the first movie was badly edited and focused too much on the minor names, the second film was way too silly and the third film spent more time putting together a new team – which then got immediately kidnapped – than anything else.
But all of these films have their charms, and although it may have been the least financially successful, The Expendables 3 arguably works better than the rest as an action movie, with slickly choreographed action sequences, a plot that mostly makes sense and a sense of humor that’s actually kinda humorous. Jason Statham sits the middle of the movie out, but everyone in The Expendables 3 gets their hero moments, and he’s no exception.
Redemption (Netflix)
Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions
Jason Statham took his usual tough guy persona and played it for straight drama in Redemption, an underseen crime thriller that nevertheless represents the best acting (so far) of the actor’s career. It’s the third film from writer Steven Knight to turn London’s criminal element on its ear, and transform obviously commercial genre tropes into serious character-driven stories. The first two films were the Oscar-nominated Dirty Pretty Things (directed by Stephen Frears) and the Oscar-nominated Eastern Promises (directed by David Cronenberg), and although Redemption is easily the least of this trilogy, it feels like it belongs.
Statham plays a homeless man who stumbles into a fancy apartment, and discovers that the tenant won’t be back for months. He uses this sudden windfall of shelter and high fashion to enter into a life of crime, pursue justice for past misdeeds, and possibly romance a young nun (Agata Buzek) who isn’t sure what to make of his advances. Steven Knight directs Redemption himself, and it’s a slick production with a handful of fight sequence, but he’s more interested in the characters and their moral quandaries, and Statham acquits himself very well as a dramatic lead who doesn’t (always) rely on his fists.
Homefront (Netflix)
Open Road Films
For all the flack Sylvester Stallone gets as an actor, a movie star and the headliner of junk like Judge Dredd and Escape Plan, he’s still an Oscar-nominated screenwriter. One of his better scripts (outside of the Rocky series anyway) was eventually turned into Homefront, a reasonably grounded thriller that stars Jason Statham as a DEA Agent who tries to put his old life behind him, but winds up in a feud with a meth dealer played by James Franco.
Yes, Jason Statham vs. James Franco isn’t much of a fight, but it’s not supposed to be. What makes Homefront so thrilling is the simplicity of the storyline, and how much damage one simple sleazebag can do, provided he has the will to do it. Director Gary Fleder (Kiss the Girls) keeps Homefront from ever turning into a schlockfest, but old school thrills burst in at regular intervals to keep us all invested and having a good time. Homefront is one of Statham’s most underrated films.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Netflix / Crackle)
Summit Entertainment
It may be difficult to adequately describe what a blast of freon Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was when it was released in the late 1990s. It was a film that epitomized “cool” without too desperately evoking any particular entity other than Guy Ritchie’s soon-to-be trademarked brand of speed-ramped hyper-cutesy randomized violence bromance shenanigans. In short, although many lumped this film into the post-Pulp Fiction wannabe category, it was its own monster, and it was entertaining as hell.
Jason Statham, in his debut performance, is only part of an ensemble cast of London gangsters, shysters, thugs and potheads whose various schemes intersect of a few chaotic days, often to the bafflement and consternation of all of the players, few of whom have any real idea what’s going on outside of their own little bubbles. But the audience knows, and laughs heartily as every plan goes violently awry in ways that no one could have predicted unless they were watching from afar.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels has lost a little of its luster over the years, thanks in large part to Ritchie’s own zealous attempts to repeat and refine this style of cinematic storytelling, but it’s still a zippy caper with a great cast and a sharp script. Statham doesn’t really stand out yet (and he won’t until Ritchie’s Snatch, two years later), but he also proves a capable comic actor. His action chops were yet to come.
Crank (Netflix)
Lionsgate/Lakeshore Entertainment
Proof positive that there is no such thing as a bad idea, Crank takes a remarkably silly concept and makes a remarkable movie out of it. Jason Statham stars as Chev Chelios (whose name already sounds like it belongs in a joke), an assassin who has just been pumped full of an experimental drug that will kill him unless he keeps his adrenaline constantly flowing. That means that while Chev Chelios tries to go through all the standard crime thriller motions – fighting, killing, taking revenge – he also has to do batshit crazy things to make sure he’s always stoked out of his mind, like start fights, abuse his body, have public sex with his girlfriend… any damned thing that the filmmakers can think of.
That manic energy keeps Crank going, and going strong, for 88 fantastic minutes. Written and directed by the duo Neveldine/Taylor, the film operates as wild entertainment and a spasmodic commentary on the constant need to keep an audience entertained. Never mind the bollocks, here comes more of Jason Statham acting like a mad person while riding naked on a scooter. It’s almost brilliant, and almost terrible, and it manages to get through the entire running time without feeling grossly mean-spirited, unlike the unfortunate sequel Crank 2: High Voltage.
Not Streaming: Mean Machine (2001)
Paramount Pictures
Since he’s a relatively recent movie star, you might think that all of Jason Statham’s films would be available on the most recent movie format. LIES. Although many of Statham’s best pictures can only be streamed for an additional fee (see: The Transporter, Transporter 2, Snatch, Safe, The Bank Job), there is also one fine film that can only be purchased on DVD, and only if you’re willing to pay up because apparently it’s out of print.
Mean Machine was released in 2001, during that brief and unusual time period when it seemed like Jason Statham’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels co-star Vinnie Jones was going to be a bigger star than Statham himself. Jones stars as a football (read: “soccer”) star who goes to jail, and winds up forming a team of inmates to play against the prison guards.
Oh yes, it’s a British remake of The Longest Yard, but at least it’s better than the Adam Sandler remake of The Longest Yard. Statham plays the film’s breakout character, a homicidal maniac who gets assigned to play goalie because no one in their right mind would want to go anywhere near him. It’s a fun film, and disappointingly hard to find, but if you’re willing to pony up it’s worth a watch for Statham enthusiasts.
Top Image via Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
