It’s not really like Jason Statham to drop out of an action movie so it’s kind of unclear just why he would do so this time apart from the fact, as Holden Walter-Warner of Screenrant mentions, that he wanted the current movie he was working on, The Man from Toronto, to be R-rated when the studio was pushing for a firm PG-13. If that’s the only creative difference it takes to get someone off the set then it would mean that Statham is likely hard to work with if he can’t get his head around a single drop in the rating. But there’s likely a bit more since he’s been in a number of action movies over the years, some of them R and some of them a step down from what he’s used to doing. Whatever the real reason is the Kevin Hart movie he was slated to star in is going to be down one man at this point since Statham apparently walked away from it and might not be coming back. It’s not the end of his acting career, far from it as he has a part in a Guy Ritchie movie slated for 2021, but it doesn’t always look great when an actor pulls out of a movie without a solid reason being given.
There are some, maybe not a lot, that would state that Statham might need a break from action for a while if only to get into a frame of mind that will allow him to come up with a different character that might be a little more entertaining. If anyone’s keeping count a lot of his movies have seen him as the loner type, the guy that might work with a team but still has enough personal issues that make him the lone wolf that likes to do things his way or no way. There’s always a tragic story somewhere, a heavy amount of trauma, and of course a big chance at redemption somewhere in the movie, as this has been Statham’s M.O. for years now. While it’s given him a very tough-guy image it’s also made him extremely predictable as well since the moment that he steps on screen a lot of people simply know that he’s going to turn out to be someone that’s either insanely tough and knows how to fight in a way that makes other people look like amateurs, or that he’s going to be seeking redemption for something that happened in his past that he can’t let go. Or it could be a combination of both since some movies have made such a thing happen.
There have been a few movies throughout the length of his career that didn’t make him out to be the rough and tumble guy with a troubled past. Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch were two movies he showed up in that were quite enjoyable but didn’t rely on him being a tough guy or someone with a difficult back story. He was more or less just another guy in the world trying to make a living and do what he could to survive any given situation he found himself in. Even Crank was kind of enjoyable since he wasn’t quite the same tough guy, he was just an individual with a nasty temper and limited time to do what he needed to do in order to get his revenge. But in a lot of movies he’s the guy that needs redemption, he’s the guy that knows how to kill people in various ways with just his hands, and he’s the guy that you just don’t mess with. Maybe it’s time for Statham to take on a few more role that allow him to be the fun guy and just cut loose for a while without having to be the gung-ho badass. A comedy movie would have done that in a big way really but for whatever reason he decided to walk away and do something else. At this point it’s kind of hard to really say what he’s going to do with his career since it only has so many notes to it and he’s become known primarily for one thing, being the tough guy. Jason Serafino of Complex has a little more to add to this line of thought.
One thing about movie tough guys is that the more they diversify the better some of them get. There are exceptions of course as Dolph Lundgren proved in Kindergarten Cop 2, but a lot of times it’s at least nice to see them try and to wonder if there’s anything else they can do aside from being a one-man wrecking crew. It could be that comedy just isn’t Statham’s thing since the only funny bits that he can really be seen in are those that many would consider dark comedy and not exactly made for everyone.
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