Jason Statham: great, horrible, or in between?

[nauru]

Here we debate whether Jason Statham's work as an actor and action movie lead is excellent, horrible, or in between. (This is to prevent another thread from going off track.)

[TheDenizen]

lol, sorry for derailing your other thread.

I think Statham is the greatest action star today and the second greatest ever, after the legendary Charlie Bronson.

wow. I think you must be the only guy who likes Statham more than me. I think he's a decent actor and a great action movie tough guy...but second greatest ever? I don't think I could go quite that far, and I'm prone to hyperbole.

I'm totally with you on Bronson though.

There's an argument to be made for Tomisaburo Wakayama and Jean Reno, yes. And there are better actors that have played action roles, although I don't consider them strictly action stars. (Shintaro Katsu, Toshiro Mifune, arguably Alain Delon)

But among strictly English-language action stars, Statham is the undisputed number two after Bronson. I'm curious who you would put ahead of him.

Ah, I didn't realize we were limiting things to English speaking stars.

I'd probably still put Arnold and Sly ahead of Statham...but mostly because I was raised on a steady diet of 80's action cheese.

[Jehan]

I don't think I can put Sly ahead of anyone

come on

[ShogunRua]

Ah, I didn't realize we were limiting things to English speaking stars.

I'd probably still put Arnold and Sly ahead of Statham...but mostly because I was raised on a steady diet of 80's action cheese.

Thing is, Statham is a much better actor than either Arnie or Sly (and I love both of them, too), and he's a more interesting, unique action star than the generic "big guy with muscles" those two so often played.

Statham has actual range; can you imagine Stallone or Schwarzenegger in a Guy Ritchie film? Or pulling off Transporter 1-2 and Crank 1-2? Most times when those two have tried something different, it's rarely been successful. I'll at least give credit to Arnie for quality funny roles in "Kindergarten Cop" and especially "Twins", but Stallone? He tried and failed in "Stop! Or my Mom will Shoot", and was completely out-shined by Kurt Russell (a way better actor, too) in "Tango and Cash". (Very good film)

No, Statham definitely receives the nod over both of those two, much as I like them.



Yeah, if we're talking

[TheDenizen]

Statham is definitely a better actor than Arnie, no argument there (Sly was pretty good early in his career, but stopped trying after a while). And I can appreciate Statham's quickness/screen fighting ability is also more appealing than the lumbering, musclebound types popular in the past.

But Statham has never been in anything as overwhelmingly awesome as Conan/Terminator/Predator or Rocky/Rambo. My fave Statham film is the first Crank (tie with Snatch) but as good as it is, it's no Terminator.

Thus, I have to give the slight edge to Sly and Arnie due to their appearances in a bunch of iconic 80's action films. But it is very slight.

Worldwide, though, I don't think there's any action star better than Jet Li. Jackie Chan has been well past it for a decade, but Li still seems to be able to produce the goods and has an incredible body of work behind him.

[paulofilmo]

I'll stick to John Wayne. . . and Kung Fu Hustle

[tef]

I think he's in between. He's charismatic enough, believable enough, but nothing about him draws me in. Stallone has a kind of working class shmuck thing going for him, or had when he was coming up. That final scene in Rambo where he falls apart because of his past is a beautiful thing to watch. I don't recall anything similar with Statham representing dramatic range, though he can be funny.

[Pickpocket]

Statham has actual range; can you imagine Schwarzenegger in a Guy Ritchie film?

No, but only because Arnie could never pull off an English accent. On the same vain I could never imagine Statham as The Terminator

[hellboy76]

I think Statham is charming and way more talented than 99 percent of other action stars. That being said, he or his agent need to be banned from choosing movie roles cause they pick some stupid ones.

[ayall]

I think Statham is charming and way more talented than 99 percent of other action stars. That being said, he or his agent need to be banned from choosing movie roles cause they pick some stupid ones.

Agree'd, good actor but sometimes plays questionable roles.
His parts in Snatch & Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels are by no doubt his best character roles and put him on the map as a main stream actor.


Another thing I like about him, relative to other action starts I compare him to(tom cruise), is that he's bald (balding) but still a chick magnet...