Jason Flemyng is good company in a criminal ensemble, with an eagerness that suits the comedy. We value the humour and humanity he brings to supporting parts, though the gangster casting can become restrictive.
Fi1m perspective
In Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Jason Flemyng’s Tom shares the four lads’ eagerness to be taken seriously as criminals. Flemyng can seem a little too pleased to be playing a gangster, but that also suits Guy Ritchie’s comedy. We warmed to the group because the swagger is so plainly enthusiastic. Alongside Nick Moran, Dexter Fletcher and Jason Statham, he makes the complications worth following, although the writing gives Tom little to distinguish him from his friends. Flemyng is an appealing ensemble actor here, held back by how little the script asks of him.
His early work gives us reason to be wary of calling him a gangster actor. Alive and Kicking (1996) gave him a lead role requiring physical and emotional intensity, before Lock, Stock and then Snatch (2000), as Darren, established the crime-comedy association. Ritchie found a useful fit for Flemyng’s eagerness, but repeated casting as toughs and villains has made that fit rather snug. His sympathetic characters deserve consideration too.
The supporting career also took him well beyond British crime films. As Dr Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), he undertook a substantial physical transformation, including eight hours in make-up as Hyde. The patience involved deserves respect, though time in a make-up chair tells us little about the performance that follows. David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), with Flemyng as Thomas Button, is a more useful reminder of his ability to bring humour and humanity to a smaller part. These are different demands from Ritchie’s swaggering ensembles, even if supporting work remains the common thread.
We would still send a caper enthusiast to Lock, Stock first. Ritchie’s camera tricks can become tiresome, and the younger actors sometimes seem to be enjoying their criminal credentials more than inhabiting their roles. Vinnie Jones’s Big Chris makes their swagger look ridiculous through sheer bluntness; Flemyng and his fellow lads supply the enthusiasm for that contrast to work. Go for the group, with no expectation that the script will give Tom much room of his own.
Biography
Jason Flemyng is an English actor. Born on 25 September 1966 in Putney, London, he is the son of director Gordon Flemyng. He trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Flemyng is known for his roles in Guy Ritchie films, including Tom in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and a part in Snatch (2000). He has also appeared in Matthew Vaughn productions such as Layer Cake (2004), Kick-Ass (2010) and X-Men: First Class (2011). Other credits include The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) and Stardust (2007).
He has worked in theatre and on British television, including the series Doctor Finlay. Flemyng received the Best Actor award at the Geneva Film Festival for his role in Alive and Kicking (1996).
