Our Paul Gratton takes a look at the new Jason Statham actioner Mutiny, now in release in North America.
About: After his billionaire industrialist boss is murdered in front of him, Cole Reed is set up to take the fall for the crime — leaving him on the run as he works to uncover an international conspiracy.
Reaction: The marketplace has always had room for dependable tough-guy action films, films delivered on a budget and featuring the likes of Charles Bronson or Chuck Norris. In recent years that mantle has been passed on to such stalwart characters as Liam Neeson or Gerard Butler, but the hardest working of them all seems to be Jason Statham. The bald-headed tough guy from England will never be mistaken for an Oscar level performer, but he consistently delivers tough guy movies on a budget that can hold a multiplex screen for a couple of weeks between larger budgeted blockbusters. Since being introduced to the world in the first Transporter film in 2002, he has been grinding them out rather reliably over some 60+ movies, including a few relative stand-outs such as Crank and The Meg. This one borrows from the Steven Seagal Under Siege film as Statham plays an operator set up for the murder of his boss who ends up going all Die Hard and stowing away on a ship called the Artemis that is carrying a human trafficking cargo (shades of Angel Studios’ huge hit Sound of Freedom). It’s all competently directed by Jean François Richet, who helmed Plane, one of Gerard Butler’s better recent efforts. Formula all the way, with bone crushing action and copious amounts of gunplay aimed at really bad guys who deserve it, of course. You know exactly what to expect when you buy a ticket to a flick like Mutiny.
Rating: 5 out of 10
