You might not be able to tell from the vast majority of his output over the last two decades, but there are many more strings to the bow of Jason Statham than simply reigning as the biggest star in the realm of B-level action thrillers.
The former competitive diver, model and black market salesman initially rose to fame thanks to his friendship with Guy Ritchie, and his first two movie roles came in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. 2001, meanwhile, saw him tackle his first major Hollywood projects in The One and Ghosts of Mars, and in no time at all he wound up becoming one of cinema’s most popular action heroes.
When you see Statham’s name attached to anything, there’s roughly a 99% chance that he’ll play a no-nonsense character with a mysterious past who ends up beating reams of bad guys to a pulp with his bare hands, utilizing his decades of martial arts experience. Both the actor and his legion of fans are more than comfortable with this particular niche, and one of his most underrated efforts is coming to Netflix on January 18th.
Homefront was initially developed as a starring vehicle for Sylvester Stallone, but when the Rocky veteran couldn’t find the time in his schedule, he passed on the script he had written to his Expendables co-star. There’s nothing particularly original or innovative about the revenge thriller, but it ticks every single one of the boxes expected from the Jason Statham subgenre.
It has a one-word title and a plot that follows a former law enforcement agent who gets drawn back into a world he’d sworn to leave behind, which sums up the leading man’s wheelhouse to a tee. And it’ll no doubt find a decent audience when it hits Netflix in just a few weeks.