Mutiny review

MUTINY: 

ANOTHER SILLY JASON STATHAM ACTION MOVIE, THIS TIME ON A CARGO SHIP! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

LIONSGATE

Jason Statham in Mutiny

 

            Jason Statham (The Transporter trilogy, Crank 1 and 2, The Expendables franchise) is back to do what he does best in Mutiny, the new action film from director Jean-François Richet (Assault on Precinct 13 (2005), Blood Father, Plane). While not every one of his movies is a winner, there’s no denying that Jason Statham’s got mad charisma as an action star, with some of my favorites of his being the first two Transporter films, The Bank Job, and Crank; he’s tough, charming, and knows how to deliver one-liners; he’s like a British Bruce Willis. 

            Honestly, when a movie of his doesn’t work, it’s because the filmmakers failed to utilize his talents (Meg 2: The Trench, Transporter 3). I still stand by Meg 2 as the worst film of his because not only was his charm unable to save the movie, but it was a boring, overlong slog that suddenly becomes chaotic, stupid fun towards the end. 

            This movie, though, I thought it looked fine from the trailers and Richet’s previous directing effort, Plane, was an unexpected surprise and a thoroughly enjoyable throwback to 80s-90s action movies. Mutiny seemed like it was in the same boat (No pun intended) as that film and…yeah, it is. 

            This movie gave me exactly what I was expecting, and I should stress that’s not a bad thing. I’m not going into Jason Statham action movies expecting John Wick or Mad Max: Fury Road; all I need is a fun, silly movie where he kills the bad guys in over-the-top ways and says a bunch of one-liners and quips. Mutiny gave me just that.

            The film follows Cole Reed (Statham), a former police officer and commando who works for his boss Tibu (Ramon Tikaram-This Life, EastEnders, Pennyworth) as a bodyguard. But when Tibu is murdered and Reed is framed for it, he boards a cargo ship to get revenge on the attackers, only to discover a secret human trafficking operation. 

            The film also stars Annabelle Wallis (X-Men: First Class, Annabelle, Tag) as Angie Ellis, Jason Wong (The Gentlemen, Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) as Taran, Roland Møller (Darkland, Atomic Blonde, Skyscraper) as Captain Marko Madsen, Arnas Fedaravicius (The Last Kingdom, The White Lotus) as Mateo Pineda, Adrian Lester (The Day After Tomorrow, Doomsday, Mary, Queen of Scots) as Captain Adam Spencer, and Chaneil Kular (Sex Education, Accused, Bodies) as Kameron Campallo. 

            Overall, Mutiny knows what it is and doesn’t try to be a cinematic game-changer in the action movie genre. Much like Plane, it’s just a dumb, fun throwback to 90s action films, one-liners, blood, bullets, and all. 

            If you’ve seen ANY of those macho action movies from the 90s, you know what kind of film this is, and there isn’t much in here in terms of surprises. It follows the formula beat-for-beat with Statham on a vengeful manhunt and won’t stop until justice is served. 

            It’s as formulaic as you could get, but what anchors the movie is Statham himself,f who, yes, is just doing his usual shtick, but it works to the film’s advantage. He is very charismatic and knows how to make wise cracks while kicking ass, but the movie does a decent job of giving him a fair amount of depth and character development, so he isn’t just badass Jason Statham playing himself. 

            In the short amount of time they have together in the beginning, you feel the connection between Statham and his boss, which adds to the tragedy of the boss getting killed in an attack. There are also some interesting things about Statham’s character revealed later on in the film that make him pretty compelling. 

            The action scenes are solid and well-choreographed and edited with tons of that gritty, over-the-top violence with a sick sense of humor you’d expect from a 90s action film. Lots of bullets flying, axes swinging, fistfights, deaths by giant hooks and harpoon guns, and a constant barrage of bad guys for Statham to kill in bloody ways; all that good shit. 

            There’s really not much to say about this movie; if you enjoyed films such as The Beekeeper and A Working Man or even Richet’s other projects, then you’ll probably have a good time with Mutiny. It’s silly, violent, completely absurd, and fueled by Jason Statham’s charisma- the ultimate 90s action flick…that wasn’t released until 2026!