Those of a certain age know about the Dewey Decimal System, which libraries use to sort books by subject. While most of the works in your local library are classified by genre or subject, William Shakespeare has his own listing at 822.33. While this seems to be a random fact, I am going somewhere with this: in the same manor, I feel like Jason Statham should have his own genre of films listed just for him.
His latest is Mutiny, directed by Jean-Francois Richet (Plane). Statham plays Cole Reed, a man with a military past, currently the personal bodyguard for a shipping magnate, who is so close to him he is considered family. When his boss is murdered, Reed is framed and goes on the run, boarding one of the company’s ships to try to get the real killers and gets more than just vengeance to deal with.
Honestly, this is just another action film starring Jason Statham with the names and locations changed to act like a fresh coat of paint. Just like his last couple of films, he seeks revenge just in a different setting. This barely clears ninety-minutes, but in this case that is a good thing. In comparison to his last two outings in The Beekeeper and A Working Man, Mutiny falls flat and carries a HUGE level of suspension of disbelief.
I couldn’t even get to the place to care about any of its characters, and while there was some innovative ways that Reed takes out his enemies, it also carries a LOT of predictability. If there is some form of subtlety here, it would be some cool homages to some horror films that could or could not be incidental, but I a was good with it. With all of this, I would still recommend Mutiny but barely as watching on home on a paying cable service like HBO.