Jason Statham’s fans will defend his glut of mediocre action movies by arguing that he always brings a sly sophistication—a certain Statham-ness, you might say—to even the most generic B-movie pulp. His graceful moves (whether strolling through a room in a tux or kicking and punching everyone in sight) and indomitable charisma elevate everything around him, we’ll insist. Put him in something like The Bank Job, the superb 2008 Roger Donaldson thriller, and you’ll get a sense of how good he really can be. But after too many The Mechanics and Safes, even his most ardent supporters have to wonder if the man’s stalled career has less to do with bad luck or simply an inability to find worthy material. In the end, Statham-ness can only take you so far.
Redemption would seem to be a step in the right direction. The feature directorial debut of Steven Knight, the accomplished writer of Dirty Pretty Things and Eastern Promises, this character-driven drama gives Statham one of his weightier roles. But despite some enjoyably idiosyncratic edges, Redemption is mostly conventional in its hardboiled depiction of a soulful loner trying to turn his life around. Statham clearly doesn’t just want to be a guy who cracks skulls, but his restrained, grizzled performance isn’t enough on its own to justify this moody misfire.
Statham plays Joey Jones, a former U.K. soldier back from the Middle East after several tours. Haunted by what he’s seen in combat—which we see in teasing glimpses through opaque flashbacks—Joey has returned to London but is living on the streets, trying to avoid court martial for unspecified reasons and ashamed to show his face around his young daughter and ex-wife.
One night while being chased by local criminals, he finds himself hiding out in the apartment of a rich man who’s away in New York for the next several months. Joey decides to take advantage of the opportunity, wearing the man’s expensive clothes and using his bankcard to invent a new life for himself.
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