44 thoughts on “Jason Statham Movies”

1. Jay yo tanvien quiero ganar un Regalo okey tengo fe fe fe enti

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   1. Thank you Marcela. I appreciate the visit and the comment.

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2. BRUCE Thanks for your input to the Statham issue. My mission at the moment is to steer Steve away from putting Jason on a pedestal. It is interesting and a great coincidence that you have mentioned Sir Maurice within the context of actors ageing and needing to “moderate their transports” regarding their choice of roles.

   You have now got to 1979 in your annual reviews and I had just been thinking how the following year, 1980, was a melancholy one for me at the time as The Duke had sadly left us in 1979 , Brando semi-retired after 1980’s The Formula [with a massive pay check for doing next to nothing, so probably giving Joel further near apoplexy ]and when ole Mumbles came back in 1989 he was still paid big money for doing relatively little but was not the Brando of old. My classic era females such as Joan, Doris and Deanna had of course long since quit the scene when 1980 came around

   Bright spots were though that my Babs Streisand had come into her own in the late 1960s & the 1970s and of my classic era male idols Sir Maurice [Michael Caine] Micklewhite who had debuted way back in 1950 [in an uncredited role in Morning Departure] continued to shine, astonishingly accumulating over 70 acting award/nominations across the board in the post 1980 period according to IMDB [with 13 of those awards/nominations coming from Oscar/Golden Globe love] and churning out a prolific number of movies including some of his most important ones such as Dressed to Kill, Educating Rita and Hannah and her Sisters.

   As I write he has 3 more movies in production with dates TBA and is just 2 years short of being on our screens for an astonishing 70 years,1950-2018]. I think that if you ever produce a “Great Survivors” ranking list he would deserve to top it jointly with maybe Eastwood.

   A word of caution, though, likeable enough as most of the action heroes are none of them have the acting depth or range that Sir M has so that even taking up supporting roles might not save their careers. IMDB’s “Ultimate” List of the 100 Greatest Actors of all time ranks Sir M a high 14th, just two slots below Lord Olivier and immediately above my Jimmy Stewart. That’s the kind of company Sir M has kept!

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   1. [cartwheels into frame] Bob, the Stath has plenty of charisma that’s why he’s still popular with moviegoers – The Meg $500m+ gross and still in cinemas. Plus he really does know how to fight, he’s not pretending or relying on fast edits and quick closeups to make him look good in a fight scene, like for instance Matt Damon as Jason Bourne or Daniel Craig as Bond, James Bond.

      Charisma is underrated and very important to an actor, there are so many young actors out there hoping to make it big, they shout and scream and snarl but do they have charisma? Do they have that magic twinkle in their eye? Will they last?

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      1. “I could never understand the Ladd phenomenon until I co-starred with him in Botany Bay in 1953. Then I realised what it was all about. He was the most athletic actor I’ve ever seen and he moved about the set with the grace and speed of a ballet dancer.” [James Mason]

         “Of course that was a real lion that I fought as Samson- but it was an elderly one with its teeth pulled!” [Victor Mature]

         “The rubber octopus in that studio tank was drifting away from me and I had to pull it back and thrust its tentacles round me to make it look as if it was attacking me.” [Larry Buster Crabbe]

         “That scene in One Eyed Jacks where Marlon walked backwards in a towering rage, scattering tables and chairs with his hands in his wake without looking at them and kicking over a bucket while at the same time challenging Ben Johnson to take him on in a duel is unique. I’ve never seen before seen on the screen a performer act and yet co-ordinate so many activities all at the same time.” [Richard Dreyfus]

         “I don’t care how big Mature is. If he makes a pass at my Anita on set I’ll stand on a chair if I have to and clobber him with a beer bottle.” [Brit Anthony Steel]

         “MARTIN: What’s the matter Frank – are you not feeling well? SINATRA What do you mean Dean? DINO You can’t be yourself – you haven’t hit anybody all week!”

         However—————————————————————————————

         “If the bad guys came looking for him in real life instead of in one of his movies he’d hide!” [A friend of Bob Roy]

         “I want to be remembered for more than the summer blockbusters.” [George Timothy Clooney]

         “The big guys with their bulging muscles never did impress me in movies. Instead I preferred the quiet men of great moral strength and character like Jim McKay in The Big Country, Andy Dufresne in Shawshank Redemption, Fonda’s Juror No 8 in 12 Angry Men and Morgan Freeman’s Alex Cross” [Robert Roy]

         “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” [Matthew 5-5 Bible, King James Version.]

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         1. DAILY EXPRESS 3rd MAIN HEADLINE 9 JULY 1955
            “Brit Nigel Patrick gets better of Hollywood tough guy Widmark in a fist fight in latest movie A Prize of Gold”
            ———————————————————————————————————————-
            I’m told that Byron Hadley [the brutal gigantic Captain of the prison guards] cried like a baby as the Feds led him off to jail.” [Morgan Freeman’s Red in Shawshank Redemption]
            ———————————————————————————————————————-
            Jim McKay enters bunk house and shakes awake Steve Leech.

            LEECH [Through bleary eyes] Have you come to say goodbye McKay?

            McKAY The type of goodbye I have in mind will take longer than in here.

            The two men step way out onto open land and a protracted fist fight ensues at the end of which both men lie panting, exhausted and barely able to move.

            LEECH All I can say McKay is that you take a long time to say goodbye.

            McKAY. I was just about finished – if it’s all right with you.

            LEECH It’s all right with me.

            McKAY Now what have we proved?

            LEECH Nothing, I guess.

            [The Big Country 1958]

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3. Great news! Jason Statham in 2016’s Mechanic Resurrection is showing on television at 10 pm tonight. I’ll not be watching it but I am excited for YOU if you have the Film 4 movie channel in your TV package.

   With Willis remaking Death Wish and Jason having remade The Mechanic One back in 2011 it seems that the careers of some of your actions heroes are in part depending on the reworking of Charlie’s old classics and in Statham’s case it no longer being “safe to go back in the water”

   Bruce’s charts show The Meg doing big business but large-scale over-hyped shark productions usually sell themselves and again according to Bruce the US public aren’t buying the Bronson rip-offs [or are they homage?]

   COGERSON ADJUSTED US GROSSES/% CRITICS RATING
   The Mechanic 2011/$32.9 million-58%
   The Mechanic Resurrection 2016/$22.0 million-42%
   Death Wish 2018/$34.0-66%

   Willis’ Death Wish remake flopped everywhere but Jason’s two Bronson reworkings didn’t too badly abroad, possibly because Brits in particular proved Uncle Abe’s adage that “you can fool some of the people all of the time” [but not guys like The Work Horse!].

   Even then though given that only less than half a movie’s gross is returned to the producers in rentals the large production costs of the two Statham flicks will ensure that they don’t recoup their investment unless DVD and Blu-ray save them, otherwise combined they will apparently fall short of recovering their costs by around$100 million dollars, and Willis’ movie by approx. $50 million

   Unhelpfully it doesn’t look now as if DVDs and Blu-ray WILL save the day-
   TOTAL DOMESTIC DVD/Blu-ray SALES TO DATE/THE NUMBERS BOX OFFICE SITE
   The Mechanic $18-2 million
   Mechanic Resurrection $$9.6 million
   Death Wish 2018 $6.9 million

   “Never glad, confident morning again.”?

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   1. Hey Bob….good breakdown on Charlie”s remakes. All three of the movies have been bashed by critics but liked by audiences. I thought the first half of Death Wish was pretty good with a weak second half. Statham has surpassed Bruce in international box office power. The Meg’s success will give Statham more opportunities as a leading man….meanwhile Bruce’s leading man days are probably behind him. I am hoping he will move to good supporting roles in good movies…..or folow the Caine path as a 70 and 80 year old actor. Good stuff.

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      1. HI BRUCE In a recent post to me I think that you said that Jason Statham was now a bigger worldwide box office star than Bruce Willis. I do not dispute any of your figures but within the OVERALL context I think your interpretation of the figures is well off the mark.

         You give individual figures for Statham and Willis adjusted worldwide grosses but not grand totals. Box Office Mojo gives ACTUAL grand totals which my quick conversion using Mojo ready reckoners produces the following result-

         Willis total adjusted worldwide gross $12.8 billion
         Statham total worldwide gross $6.5 billion

         The total adjusted worldwide gross of the Top 5 Statham movies in your Statham chart is roughly $4 billion and the corresponding figure for Willis’ Top 5 is $4.2 billion. There is nothing in that difference but if you look closely at Jason’s Top 5 you will see that –

         1/The two “Furious” monster hits are action hero films with massive ensemble casts that include people like Vin Diesel and The Rock

         2/Spy is a Melissa McCarthy.

         3/The 2003 Italian Job is a Mark Walberg movie and Jason is not billed along with the stars.

         4/Jason is the star of The Meg but sharks sell!

         Many other Statham movies are ensemble ones such as the Expendables franchise. Accordingly to get a clearer picture I have selected Jason’s Top 15 highest grossing stand-alone films including The Meg and the Top 15 of Willis’ flicks in which he is undoubtedly the star. They EXCLUDE ensemble ones like Pulp Fiction, voice roles and the Mikey nonsense. The results are as follows-

         Willis overall total of 15 = $6.96 billion, average approx. $465 million
         Statham overall total of 15= $1.5 billion, average approx. $100 million

         Heck Jason’s total and average wouldn’t make impressive figures for even only adjusted DOMESTIC grosses. If you wish I will list the selected 15 for each of the pair and you can judge for yourself. My conclusion therefore is that away from ensemble movies and sharks Jason is not particularly big box office

         However even if you still disagree with my contention that Willis is by far the bigger box office star overall and that Statham has a long way to go to catch him at least hopefully you can give me credit for impartiality in that I not only defend against perceived improper judgements my own idols such as Duke and Mumbles but also YOUR idols! Indeed as you know I have argued that Bruce should have been in your Top 25 males 1950-2010.

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         1. To give it a “fair hearing” I watched The Mechanic Resurrection for about 20 mins last night before I could stand it no longer. I’d have watched it for just 10 mins had not Jessica Alba been in it. There are some things even a bore like Jason cannot switch off in a guy!

            It has been some time since I watched Bronson as the original Arthur Bishop in 1972’s The Mechanic but from what I can remember of the Bronson movie Jason has made a travesty of Charlie’s original creation

            Statham’s Arthur Bishop is a by-the-numbers run of the mill action hero whereas I recollect Bronson’s Bishop as a much more measured and multi-layered character

            Anyone who is familiar with the long-running Brit TV series and has seen in it the two Mitchell brothers [a couple of “bulls in a china shop”] will understand why for me Statham is like a third Mitchell brother who has escaped from the small screen and landed on the big one because of current fads that are nothing to do with acting.

            Bronson was never renowned for great acting either but for my money he, like Arnie and Willis [probably the best actor among the action heroes] had a panache that sadly escapes Jason. If I was allowed to hand out “Razzle” awards for the worst screen actors Jason would get a joint one with the equally awful mountebank Stallone.

            Jason’s films are not cheaply made, the two Mechanic rip-off/homage ones reaching $40 million each in production costs alone. The irony is though that in my observation the acting in them is so mundane , the scripts so routine and the dialogue so banal that they SEEM as if they are cheaply made.

            The foregoing are of course just my own personal views but they are so sincere and strong that at times I become depressed for the movie industry when I see very limited personalities like Jason and The Rock becoming major stars. Thank goodness the modern cinema still has someone like George Clooney who wants to give us something artistically worthwhile every now and again.

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   2. Ellen Ripley was killed off at the end of Alien 3 but was brought back to life for Alien Resurrection. They kept replacing The Terminator with new models. And Jason Statham remade Bronson’s The Mechanic in 2011 and then resurrected Arthur Bishop in 2016’s Mechanic Resurrection.

      They could resurrect the attractive Ellen until the cows come home and I would watch her. Willis didn’t have to resurrect Bronson’s Paul Kersey to remake Death Wish and anyway Bruce is the best actor among the bunch. And Arnie is – well Arnie! Why though anyone would want to watch Statham’s first outing as Arthur Bishop never mind see Jason “resurrect” Bishop has always mystified me.

      However all these resurrections remind me of something from my own past. As I’ve told you repeatedly I really enjoyed living among your fellow countrymen for years when I served with the Royal Air Force [RAF] and I recall the RAF sending me to Bristol on a local government administration course in 1966.

      In that class there was a fanatical Conservative and a die hard Labour “leftie” who got into a protracted heated argument about who had been the best British Prime Minister of the 20th century up until then “Winnie” [Churchill] the Conservative or “Clem” [Atlee] the first post-war Labor Prime Minister and it took the class lecturer with all the authority and firmness of our own Teach to shut them up.

      However after an hour or so another pupil was before the class lamenting that in his own opinion contemporary political leaders were not as great as those of the past when the staunch Conservative shouted out “I agree. We need Sir Winston back!” to which the “leftie” angrily and morbidly retorted “Let’s all go and dig him up then!”

      Ah if only Jason Statham had the acting skills to resurrect the great Sir Winston!

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   3. [leaps majestically into frame] Thanks for the info Bob.

      I bought Stathams The Mechanic and it’s sequel on blu-ray not too long ago. Enjoyable action flicks but I still prefer Charlie Bronson’s original which I saw on the big screen in February 1976 on a double bill with Chato’s Land, both films directed by Michael Winner.

      And I much prefer Bronson’s Death Wish to the recent Willis remake. I saw the original twice at the cinema – July 1976 paired up with The Mean Machine (US The Longest Yard) – and April 1978 double bill with High Plains Drifter.

      Those were the days when I would scour Time Out magazine for interesting films to watch on the big screen, never dreaming that one day I would be owning those films on video and DVD.

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      1. HI STEVE

         I harmonise with you there. I used to hang about cinemas waiting for the posters to change so that I could hold one set while the attendant dealt with the other.

         I never dreamt that (1) I would one day own the movies concerned and (2) see many of those posters reproduced on sites like your own on a screen in my own home.

         I think British Prime Minister Harold Wilson got it right when he proclaimed what was then coming, back in 1964, as “the white heat of the technological revolution.”

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4. 1 STEVE I am not a great fan of action hero movies [action ANTI-hero in Jason’s case according to Wilipedia] as I find them to usually contain non-stop action sequences which bore me. I prefer instead sporadic set pieces of action interwoven with human interest plots such as those that were a big part of westerns like Shane and Fonda’s The Tin Star and Warlock. However the previous pack of action heroes such as Stallone, Willis and Arnie had at least strong screen personalities and for my money Statham does not and I mostly find his films unwatchable.

   2 For example I enjoyed Bronson in the 1972 The Mechanic but unfortunately I regarded Jason’s remakes as one big yawn as I thought he was unable to convey the same sense of menace that Charlie was earlier able to do in the role. Indeed whilst the strong cinematic personas of Willis and Gibson have always allowed me to connect with John McClane and Martin Riggs when I’ve tried to watch Jason I had gotten the impression at times that someone has permitted that other bull in a china shop EasterEnder’s Phil Mitchell [aka Steve McFadden] to stray out of the TV and onto the big screen.

   3 Conversely though action hero films are a usually a good source of excellent posters and your Statham video conforms to that generality with its glut of wonderful posters and stills the pick of which for me were POSTERS Ghosts of Mars, War, Crank 2, the ones from the two Mechanic movies and the sexy one from Parker with Jason and Jennifer Lopez. STILLS (1) the kick-boxing one (2) Jason carrying the bound female (3) the double car-crash scene (4) and especially Jason with DeNiro in Killer Elite. The evenly high standard of the artwork throughout and the actual fine mix of posters make this video one of your best videos in my book. As you would say voted up – to 96% in this case.

   4 You and WH agree on 4 of the Top 5 and again your video and his page complement each other and he merits both for although Jason is not to my taste millions of others obviously enjoy his movies.

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   1. Hi Bob, thanks for the review, generous rating, comment and observation, much appreciated. Glad you liked the posters and stills.

      Flora commented earlier on my channel saying she wasn’t a fan of Jason or his films, yes most of them are very violent and action-packed. I was always a fan of action cinema since the glory days of Enter the Dragon, Bullitt and Magnum Force, more than 40 years ago! jeezus! [bites fist] I guess I never grew out of that phase of my life. Still a kid at heart. 🙂

      There have been comments on my Statham channel recommending I do videos on McQueen and Lemmon next. I’m getting the impression my viewers are starting to worry I’m abandoning the classics and moving on to these ‘orrible new lads pretending their actors’. [wink]

      I’ll do one more week of modern stars and get back to Hollywood’s glorious past.

      The two stars of new movie The Mummy coming up next, Bruce already has pages on them.

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   2. Hey Bob….good review on Steve’s latest video. Glad Steve and I see the Too 5 the same way….good feedback as usual.

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5. Seen: 16/32 or 50%
   Favorite Top 10: too close to call between, Lock, Stock and Snatch, both are great
   Favorite Lowest Ranked (Secret Pleasure): Ghosts of Mars, I have seen this more times than I should have.
   Another awesome write up, I am sure Furious 8 will make a butt load of money which is why they will continue to make them….if we boycott they will stop

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   1. Hey Bryan surprised my tally is so much higher than yours……29 to 16. Especially with how much you loved Crank. Lock, Stock is a classic. As for Fast and Cash CowI think they will be around for many more years. The last one made an incredible 1.5 BILLION in worldwide box office. Thanks for all of the recent comments.

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