Jason Statham can make standing still a joke and a threat. We rate his dry timing and physical commitment, but too many of his films mistake a reliable leading man for a finished script.
Fi1m perspective
In The Beekeeper (2024), Jason Statham’s Adam Clay stands in a canvas jacket and cap, barely moving his face while he talks about hives. David Ayer lets him stand there until it becomes funny. Statham needs no extra grimace to tell us how ridiculous this is, and wisely supplies none. We get the pleasure of a leading man who takes the job seriously without demanding that we do the same.
His early work with Guy Ritchie, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000), established him in British crime films. The Transporter (2002) made him an action lead, and Crank (2006) put his physical commitment to work. He performs many of his own stunts, and that physical credibility is part of the appeal. Spy (2015), meanwhile, gave his comic timing room in a supporting part.
In The Beekeeper, editor Geoffrey O’Brien keeps the fights readable, giving Statham’s physical work its due. Production designer Ben Munro’s open-plan call centre, lit pink and purple by cinematographer Gabriel Beristain, looks a suitably nasty place for a reckoning. We were pleased when Clay walked in with his jerry cans, then slightly ashamed of ourselves, because Phylicia Rashād had made the preceding telephone scam so distressing. David Sardy and Jared Michael Fry’s low electronic score supplies more energy than the supporting dialogue. Ayer gets the required performance from Statham, but the script’s repeated explanations of its bee metaphor cannot make this a thoughtful thriller.
Meg 2: The Trench (2023) shows how little that reliability can do for a film unwilling to get on with things. Ben Wheatley spends too long on mining conspiracies and pressure-suit trouble when the attraction is plainly the shark. As Jonas Taylor, Statham’s refusal to look impressed is amusing, but Wu Jing’s grin and willingness to play make their scenes together livelier. The belated comedy does not excuse the long, inert stretch before it.
We do not need him to abandon action to prove himself. More comic parts would be welcome, as would directors prepared to trust his stillness without filling the pauses with explanations. Wrath of Man (2021) gives him more to suggest behind the same fixed expression than The Beekeeper allows. Start there if the routine has begun to wear thin.
Biography
Jason Statham is an English actor and producer. Born on 26 July 1967 in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, he competed as a diver for England at the 1990 Commonwealth Games before modelling for brands including French Connection and Tommy Hilfiger.
Statham began his acting career in Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000). He played the lead in the Transporter film series (2002–2008) and has appeared in the Fast & Furious franchise as Deckard Shaw. His other notable films include The Meg (2018) and its sequel Meg 2: The Trench (2023), in which he played Jonas Taylor, and The Beekeeper (2024), in which he played Adam Clay and served as a producer.
