Something happened during Safe, Cockney asskicker Jason Statham’s last bit of celluloid violence. Somewhere during all the flying kicks to the spleens and elbows to the occipital lobes, Statham the Action Man became Statham the Acting Man. Now Statham has never been a horrible actor (see The Bank Job, Blitz etc), but this was possibly the first time he punched me in the gut with emotion instead of his fist.
And with Hummingbird, his new action thriller, he appears to be continuing that blend of personal drama along with personally damaging the vital organs of a couple unlucky sods.
Living homeless after going on the run from a military court-martial, Joey Jones (Statham) is a damaged ex-special forces soldier trapped in London’s criminal underworld. But when opportunity enables him to assume another man’s identity, he is transformed into an avenging angel.
Now the fact that this Statham film brings a bit more than just calculated violence to the table should come as no surprise, because as the trailer is so eager to inform us, Hummingbird was written/directed by Steven Knight, the writer responsible for Eastern Promises and Dirty Pretty Things. Now I must confess, I’ve never seen the latter, but it stars Chiwetel Ejiofor which in my opinion, already makes it cool. The 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes certainly doesn’t hurt either.
I have seen Eastern Promises though, a number of times, and always love it. It will be interesting to see if Knight can bring that sort of unflinching grittiness to Hummingbird as well, which I get hints of from the trailer, now that he’s both holding the pen and the camera. Also, will he make Statham fight butt naked as he did to Vigo Mortensen? Either way, I will definitely be keeping an eye on this one from here on out.
Hummingbird will see release in the UK on May 17, 2013, but is yet to set a further international release date.
Last Updated: March 25, 2013
