Mutiny

Jason Statham’s latest action flick is set on a cargo ship and occasionally moves like one too. Directed by Frenchman Jean-François Richet, who once made the superb gangster epic Mesrine, it’s a po-faced revenge flick that has you pining for the wackadoodle energy of Under Siege. Unlike Steven Seagal’s boat-borne classic, the villains here are a criminally nondescript bunch without a memorable character among them, so the brutal offings land with a shrug. And you’d need a fetish for dank cargo holds to get a kick out of the setting. 

Statham plays Cole Reed, an ex-British bobby and soldier now working as a bodyguard for Thai shipping tycoon Tibu (Ramon Tikaram). Tibu is a father figure for the hard-bitten special forces man, welcoming him into the family and relying on his protection as he sells his business. Viewers of a certain age will remember Tikaram as Ferdy from This Life and the pair’s scenes bring a half-twinkle to the stoney-faced Statham. It’s soon extinguished when an ambush in Bangkok leaves Reed grief-stricken – or at least, fairly annoyed – and on a mission for revenge that takes him aboard one of Tibu’s ships. Some nasty surprises await, including a really dull stretch at the midway point.

It’s Statham playing an ultra-violent game of peekaboo with a variety of anonymous henchmen

Peaky Blinders’ Annabelle Wallis does her best as a third mate with first-base dialogue who joins Reed’s crusade and serves as the half-capable Erika Eleniak to his Seagal in the bruising action that follows. There’s a smuggling subplot and a US naval vessel on which Adrian Lester’s captain solves the whole conspiracy in a way that has absolutely no impact on the plot. All that’s left is to kick back and enjoy The Stath playing an ultra-violent game of peekaboo with a variety of anonymous henchmen.

Since The Transporter established him as a bankable action hero in 2002, Statham’s CV has been full of one-man-army movies, usually playing characters with improbable names, special forces backgrounds and a gruff sense of nobility. He’s always easy to root for, even when he’s burying an axe in some poor henchman’s head, and he’s got a gift for action that lets Richet and cinematographer Brendan Galvin hold the camera on him as he cuts loose. But with material this leaden, where even the few laughs seems to be accidental, there’s not much even he can do to keep this show on the road – okay, water.

In cinemas worldwide Fri Aug 21.