Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Jean-François Richet
Starring: Jason Statham, Annabelle Wallis, Roland Møller, Adrian Lester
"Jason Statham movie" is practically a genre in itself at this point. You know wheat you're getting from a Statham movie. The likelihood is that he'll be playing some sort of former special ops grunt who has escaped his past and is now trying to keep his head down and live a quiet life. Of course, something will happen that requires him to return to the life of violence he has tried to outrun. There is a clear distinction however between Statham's American movies and those he makes in his homeland. An American Statham movie is an over the top action flick of the type that once starred Sly and Arnie, while his British efforts tend to be more grounded, closer to the sort of action thrillers that once starred Charles Bronson. In the former the violence is cartoonish, while in the latter it tends to be grisly.
Statham's latest, Mutiny, is a US/UK co-production, and as such it falls somewhere between the two established distinctions. The premise is straight out of '90s Hollywood, essentially another Die Hard on a boat actioner in the manner of Under Siege. The violence here is simultaneously cartoonish and grisly, with numerous goons being gunned down by the Stath, and the occasional shocking burst of violence, like when the bald bruiser uses the hook of a padlock to rip a bad guy's cheek apart.
Statham plays Cole Reed, which is such a generic action hero moniker that it's amazing it hasn't already been taken. Cole is not only a former Royal Marine, but also a former member of London's Metropolitan Police Special Branch. An incident that resulted in the death of Cole's cop father made him leave the UK, and we now find him in Thailand where he has become the bodyguard of a shipping magnate.
When Cole and his boss are ambushed one night, Cole kills the attackers but not before they take out his boss. With word spreading that he killed his boss himself, Reed must find a way to clear his name. He follows clues to the Artemis, a cargo ship about to set sail. Onboard he uncovers a people smuggling operation and teams up with Angie (Annabelle Wallis), who was assigned the role of ship's third mate at the last minute. Angie is the only crew member who isn't part of this nefarious racket, making the rest of them fair game for Cole's violent revenge.
It's rare for an action movie to give us a specific body count, but at the end of Mutiny we're informed that Cole has killed 21 people. That feels like an underestimate, with so many disposable goons meeting their maker at the wrong end of the various weapons Cole deploys. But even if the villainous Captain Marko (Roland Møller) has employed 20 mercenaries, that still seems like bad economics. I'm not sure of the going rate for mercs and the current stock value of human cargo, but I imagine after you've paid off the former there can't be much profit to be made from the latter.
Mutiny isn't short on action but it's almost bereft of innovation. This is as by the numbers "Die Hard on a..." as any of the straight to video movies that employed that format in the '90s. It has the over the top action of Statham's American movies, but it's all played with the straight face of his British films. Muitny badly needs some one-liners to lighten the mood, and there is minimal chemistry between Statham and Wallis as the two actors go through the motions. Only Møller delivers the requisite amount of scenery chewing as the Viking-obsessed villain.
Jean-François Richet's direction is bland and televisual, and the fight choreography reminds us that Statham isn't as nimble as he once was. There's a lot of strategic cutting to make it look like Statham still has the moves, and we once again get the now overplayed action cliché of a fight staged in a narrow alleyway. As with many Statham movies, we never feel like his character is in any real danger, given how invincible he appears in contrast to his many faceless foes.
Those expecting the exaggerated action of Statham's American movies will find Mutiny's action lacking, while anyone expecting something as involving as his recent under-rated British thriller Shelter will groan at the pea-brained plotting. Statham undoubtedly has more charisma than Steven Seagal, but Mutiny is little more than a joyless rethread of Under Siege.
Mutiny is in UK/ROI cinemas from August 21st.
