The Best and Worst of Jason Statham

Films Starring Jason Statham That I've Seen:
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Snatch 
The Transporter
The Italian Job
Cellular
Transporter 2 
Crank
War
The Bank Job
Death Race
Transporter 3
Crank: High Voltage 
The Expendables
The Mechanic
Gnomeo and Juliet
Killer Elite
Safe
The Expendables 2
Parker
Homefront
The Expendables 3
Wild Card
Furious 7

Best Performance: The Bank Job (2008)
Statham almost exclusively stars in pure action films and over the course of his 18-year acting career, he's solidified himself as one of the finest action stars in the business. That being said, he can be a beyond serviceable dramatic. called upon and those chops were prominently displayed in Rodger Donaldson's fact-based heist drama The Bank Job. Statham anchors the film as a cash-strapped car salesman who is recruited by an old friend (Saffron Burrrows) to rob a safety deposit box containing scandalous photos of Princess Margret. Statham's deep, nuanced performance here makes me wish he would do dramatic films more often.

Worst Performance: War (2007)
Even the most consistent actors whiff once in a while and Statham's biggest misfire came with his overly serious turn in War. To be fair, the film's cliched and often ridiculous script didn't give him much to work with, but Statham's performance here lacked much of the charisma and larger-than-life screen presence that's made him a longtime staple in the world of B-action movies.

Best Film: Snatch (2000) 
Statham has starred in a number of truly excellent films over the years, but none have reached the towering heights of Guy Ritchie's comedic crime saga Snatch. Statham's underground, bare-knuckle boxing promoter is one of the many colorful characters in Ritchie's engrossing, hysterical and often insane look at the Britian's criminal underworld. Snatch is a film that gets better on each subsequent viewing and is firmly planted near the top of my list of the best movies ever made. 

Worst Film: Gnomeo and Juliet (2011)
I know it's hard to believe that a re-telling of Romeo and Juliet featuring lawn gnomes isn't one of the greatest cinematic achievements of all-time, but Gnomeo and Juliet ultimately can't live up to the genius of its brilliant and totally not moronic premise. I'll fully admit that the first half-half or so was surprisingly amusing, but once the core love story kicks in, the film becomes nauseatingly corny and unfunny. Gnomeo and Juilet is without question the worst animated film inspired by Shakespeare featuring the music of Elton John to ever be released.

Thank you for reading this week's installment of "The Best and Worst of". Next Week I'll take a look at the best and worst work of Jurassic World star Chris Pratt.