Jason Statham’s highest-rated film proves an obvious truth about his billion-dollar action career

spy proves a glaring truth about Jason Statham’s career. Statham is an action film icon whose films have collectively grossed more than $8.4 billion, including some of the most successful The fate of the angry ($1.24 billion), The Meg ($529.3 million) and The consumables 2 ($274.5 million). Statham has proven to be a crowd-pleaser both as a leading man in franchises and at the box office The mechanic, The transporterAnd crank and as a supporting character, notably Deckard Shaw in the Fast Saga, who had a title role in the 2019 spin-off Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.

But amid his many successful standalone and franchise action films spy have reviews earned the star his best Rotten Tomatoes score to date with a near-perfect 95% certified Fresh rating on the review aggregator platform. This is by far his best result and is 14% ahead of his No. 2 title. Angry 7which is considered certified freshness at 81%. In total, the star has only received four Certified Fresh ratings throughout his career, with the rest being awarded The bank job (80%) and Lock, storage and two incense barrels (75%).

Jason Statham is great for comedy (even though he’s an action star)

Spy has shown off his comic skills

2015s spy was an action comedy that was particularly comedic thanks to its lead actors Melissa McCarthy and Rose Byrne, as well as director Paul Feig, allowing Statham to open up and deliver a solid comedic performance throughout. This led to it being him Nominated for the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actor in a Comedy in 2016. Although he lost to Christian Bale in 2016 The big short filmThe comedic performance earned the star one of his only major nominations in his career, after otherwise mostly being nominated for the Teen Choice Awards and a Razzie Award Meg 2).

Paul Feig previously worked with Melissa McCarthy and Rose Byrne in the Oscar-nominated 2011 comedy
Bridesmaids
.

Although spy is one of his only pure comedy roles; he provides comic relief in many Jason Statham action films. This is particularly notable in the Fast franchise where he had humorous moments throughout The fate of the angry. This is probably one of the reasons he was elected leader Hobbs & Shaw opposite Dwayne Johnson as the dynamic between their characters grew a strong comic run alongside the high-octane car stunts which the franchise is known for. He has also skillfully handled the more comical tones of his Guy Ritchie films, including: Snap And Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre.

Jason Statham’s action star idols also do great in comedies

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone often mixed genres

Statham has previously cited his action film inspirations, which These include stars like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger alongside Clint Eastwood, Bruce Lee, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. Many of these stars are known for playing the gruff, no-nonsense roles that Statham is also known for. Stallone’s legendary rounds of action include starting the Rambo And Rocky franchises, while Schwarzenegger is also known for a variety of roles including The Terminator, PredatorAnd The running man.

The Terminator
launched a long-running franchise, most of which features Schwarzenegger, most recently in 2019
Terminator: Dark Fate
.

However, the films of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone often contain a lot of comic elements. From Stallone’s appearance opposite Kurt Russell Tango & Cash to Schwarzenegger’s fast-paced action roles in projects from Terminator 2: Judgment Day To command, Both actors are known for mixing comedy in their action films. Both stars have also directed pure comedies, including Stallone playing the title role in the mafia farce Oscar. Schwarzenegger has appeared in even more comedies, including The Christmas Story Jingle all the waythe buddy comedy Geminiand Ivan Reitman’s male pregnancy film Junior.

Jason Statham should star in more comedies like Spy

He would be a memorable comic leading man

While many of Statham’s action films are fun and have a solid comic book atmosphere, his role in the Melissa McCarthy film gave him the chance to show a side of himself rarely seen on screen, and even go beyond his typically serious one to make the role on screen funny. The fact that he was able to hold his own in a film that featured such strong comedians, with so many on the roster MirandaMiranda Hart, will and graceis Bobby Cannavale, mamais Allison Janney, The officeThis is Zach Woods and VeepSam Richardson shows this He’s perfectly capable of directing a proper comedy.

Unfortunately, a role like the character he played in Spy seems to have fallen off his radar…

However, none of Jason Statham’s upcoming films are comedies. While the upcoming Quick 11 will probably have some comic relief, His other upcoming roles appear to be extremely serious. This also includes the book written by Stallone Levon’s trade out of Suicide Squad Director David Ayer, the conspiracy thriller mutiny out of Airplane Director Jean-François Richet and an upcoming untitled thriller from Everest Director Baltasar Kormakur. So far a role like the character he played spy unfortunately seems to have fallen off his radar, although another straight comedy could showcase the action star’s range and potentially earn him further awards attention.