Things were looking a bit grim on the action hero front in the mid-late 90s. Most of the heavy hitters that had been in the game for a while were slowing down, getting into politics, or were Steven Seagal. There was a lull where not a whole lot was going on. Vin Diesel showed a bit of promise in the early aughts, but then made the move to family flick ("Pacifier") a bit too quickly for people to take him seriously.
Enter the Statham. He proved likable in the early Guy Richie movies, but stepped up big against Jet Li in "The One." What cemented his position as future action hero was his starring role in "The Transporter." This Luc Besson produced flick proved to be the mindless goldmine that vaulted Statham's career to the next level. He drives a fast car and then beats people up. What Statham is good at is keeping a completely straight face while pulling off some far fetched action sequence. Take this scene where he rings the door bell, somehow from 20 feet away, allowing him a running start to kick down the door. Most action heroes would play this suitably tongue in cheek and maybe give a knowing wink to the camera. Not Statham, he just delivers another kick to the head.
"Transporter 2" upped the ante of lunacy, and was still a really solid action movie. Things would hit a new high in action-movies-with-a-wink-and-a-nod in 2006. "Crank" was a 90 minute music video with cartoon action sequences and a plot that makes "Speed" look normal. It somehow crammed nearly all the action movie cliches into one story and still made it completely entertaining to watch. Only to be topped in crazy by its sequel (which was fun but suffered from taking the original and trying to out shock it). "Crank" is, if not the first, an early example of a new wave of action movies that unabashedly gives the audience all the over the top, far fetched, cartoon action they want without trying to bog the movie down with what is essentially a useless plot (see also "Shoot Em Up," "Machete," "Black Dynamite"). Movie makers and viewers have finally accepted that action movie plots are often more far fetched than some of the stunts, so why not trim the fat.
Jason Statham showed in "The Expendables" that he has worked his way into the action hero upper echelon and shows no sign of slowing down. It is about time there is a new action star. IMDB shows possible sequel to "The Expendables" and a couple other movies where he plays a variation of agent or elite secret agent. I for one am looking forward to a Statham starred remake, nay, reboot of "Double Impact."
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