The reason why I decided to write a view on Jason Statham is in the release of his new action movie Safe, which hits theaters March 2, 2012.
Most of you knew Jason is a British guy who has done it all, from being a one-time Olympic diver to a fashion model and a black-market salesman. Statham has transformed himself into one of Hollywood’s most bankable action movie celebrities and most known for his high-adrenaline films.
Jason Statham started his movie career with the Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels film by Guy Ritchie, where he was introduced by his friend ex-professional footballer Vinnie Jones (holds the record for being the quickest player ever to be yellow-carded in a game of professional soccer).
Guy Ritchie needed to fill the role of a street-wise con artist and cast Jason to play the role of Bacon. The movie was well received by critics and audiences and who knew that it was just a beginning for salesman.
Two years later Jason released his second movie with Guy Ritchie named Snatch, where played the role of Turkish alongside popular actors Brad Pitt, Dennis Farina and Benicio del Toro. Movie with a budget of $10,000,000 earned more than $80 million in box-office revenue.
After the small role in the Turn It Up movie alongside rappers Pras and Ja Rule Jason, he was offered a role in the horror sci-fi movie Ghosts of Mars by John Carpenter alongside Natasha Henstridge and Ice Cube. The second legendary director offered him a role during 3 years, not bad for a 33 years old guy from the street! But more to come.
In 2001 Jason got a chance to play alongside Jet Li in The One movie with a budget of $49,000,000. What is interesting Dwayne Johnson was attached to star in this film, but left to work on The Mummy Returns and Jet Li came aboard. This was a very good chance for Statham to show his Wing Chun kung fu, karate and kickboxing skills. Their ways will cross the second time in the War martial arts movie, which is much better.
Jason Statham’s weight gain came the same way it does for most of us: a few too many beers and a couple of extra servings, compounded over time. Work out hard and you’ll crave calories as fuel at the same time you loathe the millstone they can form around your middle.
[gaad]
“I never gave a f–k about a calorie,” Statham says. “An apple? It’s good for me. I’d have five. Bananas? Eat the bunch.” He’s shredded – rumble-strip abs, cords in his chest, veins in his arms. “That’s 17 pounds in 6 weeks, mate,” he says. “And that’s working out 6 days a week for, at most, about 35 minutes a day. I’ve never, ever gotten results like this before.”
Statham is a son of Barry Statham, a lounge singer, but he did not follow his father’s career. He grew up with Vinnie Jones, who introduced him to football, and Statham went on to play for the local grammar school (1978–83), which he had attended since the age of eleven, but his real passion was diving.
He practised daily in perfecting his diving techniques – in particular, he finished 12th in the World Championships in 1992. He was also a member of Britain’s National Diving Squad for twelve years. So why I am talking about that? Because in 2002 Jason played Frank Martin in the movie, which turned his life up side down and made him the next action star, which films he has been in have grossed a total of more than $1 billion USD at the box office.
Transporter is an action movie with a budget of $21,000,000 became a legendary racing movie with 2 other movies in 2005 and 2008. This movie was written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, this duo is responsible for such great actions like Fifth Element, Kiss of The Dragon, Tekken and Colombiana.
So it was just a question of short time for Jason to become a popular star worldwide, but like it was always happened with action stars it made him the guy of the one role like it was with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylverster Stallone, Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude van Damme.
On my opinion his last interesting character has been played in 2003 in The Italian Job alongside Donald Sutherland, Mark Wahlberg and Edward Norton. You can say “why?”, OK, let’s look at his movies for period of 2003-2013.
2004 – Gangster in Cellular
2005 – Gambler in Revolver
2005 – Driver in Transporter 2
2006 – Professional assassin in Crank
2007 – Farmer-warrior in the In the Name of the King
2007 – Agent in War
2008 – Driver in Transporter 3
2008 – Ex-con in Death Race
2008 – Thief in The Bank Job
2009 – Professional assassin in Crank 2
2010 – Gambler in 13
2010 – Mercenary in The Expendables
2010 – Killer in Mechanic
2011 – Detective in Blitz
2011 – Killer in Killer Elite
2012 – Agent in Safe
2012 – Mercenary in The Expendables 2
2012 – Thief in Parker
2013 – Soldier in Hummingbird
2013 – Agent in Echelon
Soldier, military, killer, thief, agent, gambler… the same guy never drops his British accent again and again. If I like most of was watching him on the screen until 2010, but now I am just tired and Safe was the last drop which overflowed the cup. Jason, maybe it is a time to ask your agent to find something different? Most of action stars tried themselves in another genre.
I liked Oscar with Sylvester Stallone, it is still one of the best Hollywood comedies on my opinion. Arnold made Twins and it became a classic. 10 years of the same tough guy kicking asses by snap of fingers on the screen is more than enough.
It was a lot of reviews on Steven Seagal‘s face in old times of his popularity, so let’s try to find something different in the Jason’s character faces.
10 faces of Jason Statham
Jason, come on, smile!
In the Safe movie Jason Statham plays a former New York cop who gets caught in a tricky situation when he spots some men attempting to capture a young girl in a subway station. After incapacitating them and rescuing the girl, he discovers that the reason the men are after her is because she has the ability to memorize anything placed in front of her, and this time she memorized something pretty darn important. The series of numbers she was forced to remember are a code, but a code for what? Apparently it’s for something important enough to go to war over.
Arguably the best moment in the trailer comes at the end, when Statham admits to the gentleman standing next to him that he never knows “what to say in these moments.” “What moments?” the man asks. “The ones before I kill someone,” Statham replies, and then flies at the camera with guns blazing. This is Statham in all his beauty!
He plays pretty much the same character in every action movie he stars in, but Jason is certainly an actor everyone loves to watch on the big screen.
