From selling counterfeit products on the streets to making it into the British National Diving Team and then going on to be featured in one of the world highest grossing movies, Jason Statham has turned his life around through sheer hard work and patience.
Born in 1967, Jason Statham is an English actor who is known for his work in crime and action thriller movies. Starring in blockbuster movies like Crank, The Transporter series, The Fast and Furious franchise, and The Expendables series. Jason’s breakthrough movie was “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” which was a success at the box office, and then his acting career took off.
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12 Best Jason Statham Movies of All Time
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Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Streaming On: Prime Video
Director: Guy Ritchie
Writer: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Jason Statham, Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher
Genres: Crime, Comedy
Eddie, a card game prodigy, convinces his long-time friends to invest a huge load of money into Harry “Hatchet” Lonsdale’s, London’s famous, high stake game of three card brag. Harry rigs the game in his favor and ends up winning the set. To clear his name off the debt, Harry and his friends decided to steal an antique Holland and Holland Shotgun which is worth more than enough to pay off the debt.
After a successful robbery, many criminal parties start to get involved and Harry and his friends find themselves in deep danger. According to the critics, Guy Ritchie took the Tarantino Hip Gangster formula and gave it a complete makeover. As Statham’s breakthrough movie, the movies gave Staham the perfect role to play which he executed flawlessly resulting in a timeless movie.
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Snatch (2000)
Streaming On: Peacock Premium
Director: Guy Ritchie
Writer: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Jason Statham, Brad Pitt, Stephen Graham
Genres: Noir, Crime, Thriller
Turkish, an underground fight promoter, arranges a rigged fight for his Venomous crime boss Brick Top. Mickey O’Neil, the fighter who was supposed to throw the fight, heavily underestimates his strength and knocks out his opponent in a single punch. This puts Turkish in a bucket load of trouble. Concurrently, a gang disguised as Hasidic Jews steal an 86-carat diamond from Holland and plan on selling it in the underground markets of London.
This diamond catches the eye of many underground mafia and Brick is one of them. In the second collaboration between Statham and Guy Ritchie, the movie really captures the essence of the first one. It is interesting to watch Snatch as a big upgrade over the first movie as the film felt less ragged and rushed but more paced and thrilling.
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Transporter 2 (2005)
Streaming On: History Vault, Sling
Director: Louis Leterrier
Writer: Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
Stars: Jason Statham, Amber Valletta, Alessandro Gassman
Genres: Action, Thriller
After moving to France, Frank Martin is leading a rather simplistic life. One day, as a favor to one of his friends, Frank accepts a job as a temporary chauffeur and bodyguard for Jack Billings, son of crusading politician Jefferson Billings. Unknown to Frank, Jefferson is going after an international Drug Cartel. In retaliation, the cartel takes over a hospital and acts as Jack’s doctor and Frank fails to keep Jack safe.
Jack is returned to Billings after the payment of a ransom, but unknown to them Jack has been injected with a highly contagious virus that will kill anyone that Jack breathes on. Enraged, Martin vows to find an antidote and kill anyone who might harm the child. The Tranporter’s Frank Martin is the perfect fit for Jason, while the first movie tries to establish Frank as a character, the second movie is what really took the character to newer heights.
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Crank (2006)
Streaming On: Peacock Premium
Director: Neveldine/Taylor
Writer: Neveldine/Taylor
Stars: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Carlos Sanz
Genre: Action
Chev Chelios, an experienced hitman, who works for Don “Carlito” Carlos is given the mission to take out the mafia boss of the Triads for encroaching on Carlito’s business. Chev apparently fails his mission and in light of this information, Ricky Verona an ambitious small-time criminal conspires with Carlito to kill Chev. The next day Chev wakes up to a tape left on his table by Verona stating that he has been poisoned by a synthetic Chinese drug that inhibits the flow of adrenaline in his body and in four hours will result in his heart-stopping.
To find a cure Chev has to constantly put himself in highly dangerous and risky acts to keep his adrenaline high. A high-octane movie that only ramps up. Crank is the right movie for you to give you enough adrenaline rush to last for at least a few days.
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Death Race (2008)
Streaming On: Starz Roku, Directv, Sling
Director: Paul W.S Anderson
Writer: Paul W.S Anderson
Stars: Jason Statham, Tyrese Gibson, Joan Allen, Ian McShane
Genres: Action, Thriller
Following the downfall of the US Economy, crime rates have increased drastically causing the private sector to set up stricter prisons. We follow Jensen Ames, who is wrongfully convicted of murder and is transferred to Terminal Island Penitentiary.
Terminal Island Penitentiary, is run by Warden Claire Hennessey, an unlawful warden who uses her inmates as a source of entertainment and profit. T.I.P holds a no-bar held race every year whose winner gets to walk out of the prison free. After his transfer to T.I.P., Jensen gets a second chance at his life when he gets to drive the car of legend in the upcoming race. Death Race is a movie that goes hard on the accelerator of storytelling and decides to never hit the brakes. An Adrenaline-filled movie that will definitely get your heart racing.
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The Bank Job (2008)
Streaming On: Peacock Premium
Director: Roger Donaldson
Writer: Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais
Stars: Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, Richard Lintern
Genres: Heist, Thriller
While smuggling drugs into the country, Martin Love, an Ex-model, gets caught at Heathrow Airport. Using her connection to an M.I.5 agent, she is let off the hook but as a punishment is handed the job to recover an important safe, which contains compromising photos of Britain’s Princess Margret. Held by Martin X, a black militant gangster, the safe is stored away in a high-security bank. Martin X uses these photos as leverage to keep his illegal businesses from ever being threatened by the government.
Martin approaches her old friend Terry to help her out and as a reward, Terry would get a huge sum of money to help keep his family from ever going into crisis again. A highly acclaimed movie by critics, The Bank Job is praised for its careful storytelling and wise use of its narrative. A well-directed, strongly paced, thrilling heist movie that accentuates how good of an actor Jaosn Statham can be.
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The Mechanic (2011)
Streaming On: Paramount+, Hoopla
Director: Simon West
Writer: Lewis John Carlino
Stars: Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Tony Goldwyn
Genres: Action, Thriller
Arthur Bishop, an experienced assassin, flawlessly executes a hit on a Colombian cartel boss. On returning from the job he finds Harry, a long-time friend, and mentor, in his. Harry congratulates Arthur on his successful mission and pays him in full. Dean bishops employer assigns Arthur his next mission, to kill Harry. When Arthur confronts Dean about the job, Dean tells him about how Harry betrayed Dean and purposefully leaked confidential information. Following this Arthur assassinates Harry and at his funeral, Steve, Harry’s son begs Arthur to join in not knowing that Arthur is the one who killed his father. After a few years of remaining dormant in the industry, The Mechanic was Statham’s comeback movie and it delivered on its promise of being a box office hit. Arthur Bishop is still considered Statham’s most iconic character and it was exactly what helped him back into the Hollywood sphere.
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Safe (2012)
Streaming On: HBO Max, DIRECTV
Director: Boaz Yakin
Writer: Boaz Yakin
Stars: Jason Statham, Catherine Chan, Robert John Burke
Genres: Action, Thriller
Ex-cop, and Cage Fighter, Luke Wright unintentionally wins a rigged fight, upsetting the Russian Mafia. As a punishment, the mafia kills his then-pregnant wife and threatens to kill anyone he regularly interacts with, causing Luke to abandon his life and live on the streets as a tramp. One day Luke sees the same Mafia that killed her wife, trying to kidnap a child, and jumps in to save her. On interrogating her, Luke finds out that she is a mathematical genius and knows a combination to a combination safe which is why the Russian mafia is after her.
After hearing the girl out, Luke decides to protect the child from any harm even if it costs him his life. The relationship between Luke and Chan is played really exciting to see and the direction of a more sentimental role on Statham’s part is worth every minute. A treat for the eye of an action junkie, this film covers ridiculously violent action sequences.
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Parker (2013)
Streaming On: tubi TV
Director: Taylor Hackford
Writer: John J. McLaughlin
Stars: Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez, Wendell Pierce
Genres: Action, Thriller, Comedy
Parker, a professional robber, is coerced into working with a team he is not familiar with and performs a heist with them. After the heist, a member of the team wanting a bigger cut of the prize money shoots Parker and leaves him to die on the footpath. Saved by farmers, Parker survives and swears vengeance on the members and during this process even finds an unlikely ally in Leslie Rogers, a property broker.
Acting as a rich oil baron from Texas, and tries to pick off the traitors one by one. Jennifer Lopez and Jason Statham were a combination that nobody expected, but the amazing chemistry portrayed by them is really addictive for the audience, making the movie a hit at the box office.
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Spy (2015)
Streaming On: Available for Rent on: Google Play Movies, Vudu, Red Box
Director: Paul Feig
Writer: Paul Feig
Stars: Jason Statham, Melissa McCarthy, Mary Rose Bryne, Jude Law
Genres: Spy, Action, Comedy
CIA Analyst Susan Cooper spends all of her time bound to desk duty despite solid field training. She spends most of her time helping out her friend, Bradley Fine, a handsome jock who requires Susan’s help throughout his missions, by taking actions that Sushan feeds him through an earpiece. On one such mission, Susan was helping Fine but miscalculates the situation resulting in Fine being shot at the crime scene and dying.
With a fire of revenge lit in her soul but not enough skill to see it through, Susan sets out on the mission of correcting what she did wrong. Considered by many to be Jason’s best performance, Spy proved that Jason was not a one-trick-Pony and that he could play a whole spectrum of the role and do them really well. With a 95% approval rating on rotten tomatoes, the movie is evergreen and has the best performances from the whole cast.
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The Fate of the Furious (2017)
Streaming On: Fubo, Sling
Director: F. Gary Gray
Writer: Gary Scott Thompson
Stars: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jason Statham, Tyrese Gibson
Genre: Action
With the whole family settled Dominic finally had something close to retirement. Following this peace, Dom is approached by Cipher a cryptic woman who forces Dom to come out of retirement and work for her by showing him something on her phone. Coincidentally DSS agent Hobbs has been assigned to an off-the-books mission which he could get arrested for if he fails. For the mission, Hobbs hires the help of Dom’s crew, and he accepts. During the mission, Dom betrays Hobbs and takes the stolen item for Cipher. Hobbs is sent to Prison where he meets Shaw and they together plan an escape. As of the writing of the article, FnF 8 is still the world’s 11th highest-grossing movie and is considered to be the best one in the franchise. Statham fit into his new role perfectly and is praised for mixing in well with the character established in 7 previous movies.
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The Meg (2018)
Streaming On: Prime Video, truTV, TBS
Director: Jon Turtletaub
Writer: Steve Alten
Stars: Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson
Genres: Science, Fiction, Horror
On a rescue mission, Jonas Taylor attempts to rescue the crew of a submarine carrying nuclear substances. While approaching the submarine he sees it gets struck by a huge unidentifiable creature and is forced to flee the scene. When he narrates what happened, Dr. Heller passes the story off as stress induce psychosis.
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Five years later, in an expedition to the deepest parts of the Marianna Trench, Taylor’s ex-wife is also a part of this team. During the expedition, the ship is attacked by the same unidentifiable that took down the submarine 5 years ago causing the ship to lose its connection to the base.
FAQs
Many consider Crank as Jason Statham’s best performance and as an overall movie Spy is preferred because of the plot and the supporting cast.
Jason enlisted himself in the military but realized that military life was not for him and went on to devote his focus to martial arts.
The role of Bacon in Guy Ritchie’s “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” is what skyrocketed Jason’s popularity. Praised by critics and the mass audience, this movie acted as the breakout movie for Jason’s career.
Jason has been professionally trained in martial arts, Brazilian Ju-Jitsu, Kickboxing, Boxing, and wrestling so he definitely knows how to fight just as well in real life just like in his movies.
Best Jason Statham Movies By Their IMDB Ratings
- Snatch – 8.2 with 869k
- Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels – 8.1 with 592k
- The Bank Job – 7.2 with 185k
- The Fate of the Furious – 7 with 238k
- Spy – 7 with 249k
- Crank – 6.9 with 255k
- The Mechanic – 6.5 with 164k
- Safe – 6.5 with 113k
- Death Race – 6.4 with 213k
- Transporter 2 – 6.3 with 207k
- Parker – 6.3 with 125k
- The Meg – 5.6 with 177k
Best Jason Statham Movies By Their Box Office Collection
- The Fate of the Furious – $1.236 Billion
- The Meg – $530.2 Million
- Spy – $235.7 Million
- Transporter 2 – $89.1 Million
- Snatch – $86.3 Million
- The Mechanic – $76.3 Million
- Death Race – $76 Million
- The Bank Job –$ 66.1 Million
- Parker – $46.2 Million
- Crank – $42.9 Million
- Death Race – $40.6 Million
- Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels – $28.1 Million
Conclusion
Married to Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and having a one-year-old Daughter, Jason Statham has decided to reside in Beverly Hills. With three movies set to release in 2023, Jason’s career is still thriving. A Sequel to The Meg, The Expendables, and another fast and furious movie, all are set to launch this year. Alongside all of these, Jason has taken up wakeboarding, jet skiing, windsurfing, and even rock climbing as hobbies. This exclusive guide covers the best Jason Statham movies of all time which will make you fall in love with this action superstar all over again.
