There’s something perfect about a one-word Jason Statham movie title. Mutiny. Beekeeper. Shelter. You already know what you’re getting. And honestly? I’m completely okay with that.
Mutiny, directed by Jean-François Richet, is essentially another installment of the Jason Statham formula. This time, Statham plays Cole Reed, the former badass-turned-head-of-security for a cargo company run by Tibu, played by Ramon Tikaram. Cole once saved Tibu’s life, so he became more than just an employee—he became family.
But when Tibu and Cole are attacked one night and Tibu is murdered, Cole is framed for the killing and forced to go on the run. Eventually, he ends up aboard one of Tibu’s company ships, where he discovers something much bigger is happening: the ship is being used for human trafficking. Tibu had sold the company believing he was leaving behind a squeaky-clean operation, completely unaware that his own son, Cameron, had been running some very shady shit behind his back. Now Cole has two jobs: figure out who killed Tibu and put an end to the trafficking operation.
Annabelle Wallis plays Angie Ellis, who gets brought in as the ship’s third mate and eventually discovers what’s really going on. Before long, Cole and Angie are basically surrounded by a ship full of people who know exactly what’s happening and are willing to kill to keep it that way.
Unlike Shelter, which I gave a 6/10, Mutiny is much more of a contained action movie. Shelter had that road-trip feel, moving from location to location and giving Statham and the little girl a much bigger world to play around in, while Mutiny is almost entirely confined to this massive ship. That means tight hallways, cramped rooms, knife fights, gunfights, Statham crawling through vents and plenty of close-quarters combat. The biggest thing missing is that one really memorable action sequence. Shelter had that awesome nightclub scene that gave the movie a set piece I could really latch onto. Mutiny has plenty of action, but nothing quite reaches that level.
And when the action kicks in, it’s fun.
There’s even a fucking harpoon-gun kill that had me thinking, “Okay, that was pretty damn cool.” The movie has some fun kills, and watching Statham work his way through wave after wave of generic European badass henchmen is exactly the kind of thing you signed up for.
That said, I don’t think that really matters.
The villains also didn’t leave much of an impression on me. I couldn’t tell you most of their names, and honestly, I barely noticed the actors playing them. They’re essentially just interchangeable badasses with guns who show up, get in Statham’s way and eventually get dispatched in increasingly creative ways.
But here’s the thing: I don’t think that really matters.
My girlfriend and I actually made a pact before seeing this movie that we’re always going to go see these kinds of Jason Statham movies in theaters together. Because you know exactly what you’re getting. Statham is going to be the good guy. He’s going to have some ridiculous badass background—military, police, special operations, whatever—and he’s going to spend most of the movie pretending he’s just a normal dude. Then somebody hurts or kills someone he cares about, and suddenly the Jason Statham we’ve been waiting for shows up.
It’s the formula.
And they’re going to keep making these movies. Statham is probably going to star in another ten of them, and I’m probably going to see every single one.
That’s not because these movies are reinventing action cinema. They aren’t. They don’t have the biggest ensemble casts, they don’t necessarily have memorable villains, and we’re going to see variations of the same story over and over again. But sometimes you don’t need that.
Sometimes it’s Friday night. You get your large soda, your popcorn, your candy, sit down in the theater and watch Jason Statham kick the shit out of a bunch of bad guys for two hours.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Mutiny isn’t going to blow you away, and it’s not even the best version of this particular Statham formula. But Jason Statham does Jason Statham things, there are some fun kills, the action works when it gets going, and you’re always rooting for the guy.
Mutiny = 59/100
