Many fans are eagerly awaiting Jason Statham’s return to his roots as a British gangster in film.

Meg 2: The Trench took a major bite out of both the global and worldwide box office during its opening weekend in 2023, signifying that nothing beats a good, old-fashioned monster mash to kick off the end of the summer movie season. While the film’s financial, if not critical success was mostly due to the titular massive shark, it was another win for Jason Statham who also delivered another successful appearance in The Fast and the Furious franchise in Fast X. While Statham is undoubtedly one of the most popular leading action stars in the world right now, the quality of his projects has been affected by the similarity of many of his various action roles. It’s time for Statham to spice things up and return to being the tough British gangster that he was always so good at being.

Jason Statham’s Work with Guy Ritchie

It’s somewhat ironic that Statham has starred in action films for over two decades, as that’s not where he started his career. Statham’s big break came from Ritchie, who gave him his first two roles in 1998’s Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. Ritchie’s films aren’t necessarily high art, but they were incredibly influential in the way that they inspired the “London underground crime thriller” subgenre. These films helped launch the careers of many rising British actors such as Dexter Fletcher, Jason Flemyng, Stephen Graham, and Robbie Gee, but unsurprisingly, Statham is the one that has stuck around the longest.

Within those early films, there was a level of genuine anger and youthful detachment within Statham’s characters that was distinct from the flawless action heroes that he tends to play now. Statham’s quips cooler in Snatch. because his character Turkish isn’t a super spy, a renowned bank robber, or some sort of special operative agent; he’s simply a small-time slot machine salesman and boxing promoter who manages to get in too deep with some particularly dangerous gangsters like “Brick Top” Pulford (Alan Ford).