It’s shocking to me that this is only the fifth Jason Statham movie to appear on this site. What have I been doing with my life?

Mutiny (2026):

Director: Jean-François Richet
Screenwriter: Lindsay Michel and J.P. Davis
Starring: Jason Statham, Annabelle Wallis, Rolan Møller, Ramon Tikaram

The Plot: After being framed for the assassination of wealthy but kindhearted shipping magnate Tibu (Ramon Tikaram), expert bodyguard Cole Reed (Jason Statham) goes in search of answers…and vengeance. He finds both aboard a ship owned by Tibu’s company, along with an unexpected cargo of human trafficking victims. Allied with the one crew member not in on the criminal conspiracy, single mother Angie (Annabelle Wallis), Cole must outwit and outfight a horde of crooked sailors and their sinister captain (Rolan Møller) if he wants to clear his name and see justice done.

There are vanishingly few certainties in this cold world, but you can always count on Jason Statham to kick some ass. I know it, Vin Diesel knows it, and you can bet that Mutiny knows it too. Statham’s latest comes from French director Jean-François Richet, whose recent Gerard Butler vehicle Plane was similarly taut and better than expected. In both films, the action is clearly staged and reasonably grounded, if not totally realistic. But who wants realism from this kind of movie anyway? You want to be able to see what’s going on and not feel totally insulted by the script. Anything beyond that is gravy.

Still, as a film critic I resent the phrase “turn off your brain”. It’s condescending towards movies and audiences while often being used in defense of bad filmmaking. So when I say there’s comfort in Mutiny‘s predictability, don’t take that to mean it isn’t worth your attention. There’s a level of basic filmmaking craft on display that makes this one of the better recent examples of a certain kind of meat-and-potatoes action movie.

Mutiny delivers the inventive fight scenes audiences can expect from Statham—I don’t know if he uses the same stunt team for most of his movies, but the man has demonstrated impressive quality control over at least this aspect of his career—alongside the kind of old fashioned action movie script that doesn’t rush into things too quickly. If screenwriters Lindsay Michel and J.P. Davis don’t exactly craft psychologically complex characters, they at least consider what makes them tick and take the time to get everything in place before the fists start flying.

If you’ve seen more than a handful of action movies, Mutiny‘s plot will contain no surprises, but therein lies the charm. Professional Badass will team up with Civilian Ally to rescue the Innocents from the Bad Guy Criminals. Jason Statham will find a new way to void the warranty of something you can buy in a hardware store (in this case a padlock). Sunrise, sunset. Richet isn’t trying to make a cinematic masterpiece, but he does respect your time.

The cast is game. At 59, Statham has not noticeably aged in the last fifteen years. He may not have a wide emotional range, but he’s perfectly capable of finding nuances within the Jason Statham persona. And he can still clear a roomful of goons like nobody’s business. Møller is a suitable foil for Statham, grizzled and calculating. Their one-on-one fight at the end is a highlight (this isn’t a spoiler, this kind of movie always ends with a one-on-one fight between the Good Guy and the Bad Guy). Annabelle Wallis, so memorable in the bonkers 2021 horror film Malignant, doesn’t get much to do here, although her character is resourceful in her own right and isn’t relegated to Damsel or Love Interest.

While Mutiny may be a little too dour for its own good—I know this is just the kind of movie and character Statham is doing right now, but it seems a waste to stifle that natural charisma—it’s still a good time at the movies. There were more than a few moments during fight scenes that elicited a collective groan from the audience, which is really what you want from this type of film. Do you need to see it on the big screen? I don’t know, follow your heart. Will the film suffer immensely if you watch it at home on a Friday night in a month or two? Not at all.