Jason Statham may have built his entire brand around his martial arts prowess and penchant for mid-budget action movies, but there have been rare occasions when he’s ventured into relatively uncharted territory. He was one of the highlights in Paul Feig’s Spy by sticking rigidly to type and pointing out the absurdity of his established persona, while he battled a giant shark in box office smash hit The Meg.
Admittedly, the actor doesn’t venture out of his wheelhouse too often, but when he does, it usually winds up being worth a watch. A particular case in point is 2008 heist thriller The Bank Job, which sees Statham giving one of the more underrated performances of his career. An ensemble piece where hardly any punches are thrown or things explode in dramatic fashion, it also landed some of the best reviews out of his entire back catalogue, sitting at a solid 79% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Directed by veteran journeyman Roger Donaldson, who also helmed The Bounty, Species and Dante’s Peak among others, the story is loosely based on London’s Baker Street robbery of 1971, where a gang of criminals robbed a bank and actually managed to get away with the majority of their haul.
In typical Statham fashion, The Bank Job performed moderately well at the box office after earning almost $65 million on a budget of $20 million, but it tends to be overlooked among his filmography of straightforward actioners. However, it’s being added to the Netflix library next month, and with several of his recent efforts managing to crack the Top 10 most-watched list shortly after debuting, a whole new audience could be set to discover it for the first time when it lands on February 1st.
Published: Jan 20, 2021 09:31 am