Jason Statham is back on the big screen in the action thriller Mutiny, which he produces and stars in as Cole Reed, an ex-police officer turned bodyguard who embarks on a vengeance mission after being framed for his boss’s cold-blooded murder. Cole’s operation veers in a new direction, however, when he discovers unscrupulous activity aboard the cargo ship he has infiltrated. From there, we go through a “play the hits” formula that will be expected for anyone familiar with Statham’s catalogue. There are a few successful elements, but overall the film sinks more than it sails.  

It’s unsurprising that the film’s strongest asset is its action sequences, at least when it’s fully committing to them. The fight choreography is solid, if not groundbreaking, and Statham absolutely elevates those scenes with his effortless action hero bravado. I do think it was a bit of a miss, though, to not utilize the film’s setting more specifically in its action scenes. Only one of the fight sequences truly makes good use of the ship in a way that helps the film stand out as a maritime thriller. As I watched, it was hard not to think about all the interesting nooks and crannies of a cargo ship that could make for a good action setting, and we just don’t get much of that. A good portion of the film’s runtime is stuffed with characters slowly tailing other characters throughout the boat and surprising them from behind, which begins to feel very tropey after the third instance. I wish some of that space had been filled by more of the hand-to-hand combat that makes up the most thrilling parts of the film. 

No one will come into Mutiny expecting complex, layered acting performances, and that’s a good thing because there aren’t any to be found here. Statham has a few moments to deliver some on-the-nose one-liners that may have audiences cheering, but it’s clear that his physicality is his biggest asset in the film. As far as his character goes, the film really doesn’t give us much to differentiate Cole from any other Jason Statham character we’ve seen on screen before. While characterization doesn’t always have to be at the forefront of an action flick for it to be effective, a deeper dive into who Cole is as a person could have helped this film separate itself from others in Statham’s repertoire. He just feels generic. The biggest chunk of personality we get for him is an exposition dump delivered by another minor character, which felt lazy and uninspired.

In addition to Statham’s character, we’re introduced to Angie Ellis (played by Annabelle Wallis), a former Marine on board the ship who becomes Cole’s sidekick in his quest to take down the bad guys. Outside of a brief explanation of her family struggles, Angie feels like a pretty one-dimensional character who doesn’t bring much to the table. The performance from Wallis is stiff at times, but I credit that more towards the pedestrian nature of the film’s dialogue than Wallis’s acting ability. In fact, the dialogue given to most of our characters feels lackluster even for an action film. Of the remainder of the film’s cast, Roland Møller, who plays one of the film’s main antagonists, does the best job with what he’s given. Perhaps that’s just because uncomplex dialogue lends itself easier to villainy, but his portrayal of Marko feels believable at the very least. 

The biggest anchor dragging down the ship is the film’s story, penned by Lindsey Michel and J.P. Davis. If the plot had stuck to a simple revenge tour for Statham’s character, things may have worked well, but it moves on from that very quickly. Cole’s discovery of an entirely unsuspected crime operation aboard the ship takes what could have had the ingredients of an intensely personal hunt for vengeance by a man who has lost someone close to him into a more general “fight the system” thriller. While that can also be a fun time at the theater, it’s hard to make that shift within a tight 95 minute runtime in a way that doesn’t leave the audience feeling like the rug was pulled out beneath them. In what may be the most egregious part of the film, the writers decide that the audience does actually need some resolution in the initial story they’re presented with, and they attempt to do that with a one-minute scene tacked on to the end after the film has already seemingly concluded. There’s no real satisfaction there, just the feeling that we’ve been left with an empty afterthought. 

Mutiny doesn’t actively hurt the action thriller genre, it just doesn’t do anything to add to it in a significant way. Check this out once it’s streaming if you’re curious enough. 

Lionsgate will release Mutiny in theaters on August 21

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