Movie Matters: Jason Statham: The John Wayne of Our Time?

First a few facts. John Wayne, the Duke, starred in over 170 films , won an Oscar, and received the freaking Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is an American institution and in a league of his own.



Now to my point. John Wayne often played the good-hearted outlaw; yeah, he'd kill if had to, but you always knew he would protect innocents. With highly entertaining turns in this year's, The Bank Job and Death Race, Jason Statham, a 35 year old Brit, has continued that tradition in a slightly more muscle bound and expletive punctuated way. Whether it's robbing a bank to give his family a better life or killing every death row inmate for a chance to raise his daughter, Stratam plays the quintessential Dukesque movie hero by consistanly doing the wrong things for the right reasons.



There is nothing new or innovative about the films Statham stars in and therein lies another connection he has with the Duke; stick with what works. Wayne starred in over 75 westerns and you knew what you were going to get when plunked down your two bits. Similarly, Statham primarily appears in adrenaline drenched, crime inspired, explosion accented films that rarely fail to satiate my appetite for improbable action sequences. After walking out of his films I'm rarely disappointed.

And ultimately that's what a great movie star provides an audience, consistency. Statham will never win the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but I believe the Duke would acknowledge that the two of them were cut from the same ragged cloth.