2000–2010: Rise to prominence While working as a model for French Connection, Statham was introduced to fledgling filmmaker
Guy Ritchie, who was developing a film and needed to fill the role of a streetwise con artist. After learning about Statham's past as a market stall salesman, Ritchie cast him in the crime comedy thriller
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). The film was well received by both critics and audiences, and helped put Statham in the public eye; for his role, he was paid
£5,000. Statham was offered more film roles and was cast in the lead role of driver Frank Martin in the action film
The Transporter (2002), written by
Luc Besson. The film spawned two sequels,
Transporter 2 (2005) and
Transporter 3 (2008). He also played supporting roles in
Mean Machine (2002),
The Italian Job (2003), and as the lead villain in
Cellular (2004). In 2005, Statham was once again cast by Ritchie to star in his new project,
Revolver, which was a critical and box office failure. He played a dramatic role in the
independent film London in 2005. In 2006, he played the lead role in the action film
Crank. Statham was asked to promote
Crank during the 2006
San Diego Comic-Con Convention. In 2008, Statham starred in the British crime thriller
The Bank Job and
Death Race, a remake of
Death Race 2000 (1975). American film critic
Armond White hailed Statham's ascension as an action film star. On the occasion of
Death Race, White championed Statham's "best track record of any contemporary movie star." Later in 2008, White praised Statham's
Transporter 3 as a great example of kinetic
pop art. Chris Hewitt of
Empire Magazine, noted the film as "a dour, drab affair", but credited the film with "establishing Statham as a new action hero, as at ease with gruff one-liners as he was with Jackie Chan-esque high-kicking". In 2009, Statham started to develop a new movie written by
David Peoples and
Janet Peoples. Statham stated "We've got a movie we're trying to do, written by David Peoples and Janet Peoples, in the vein of an old film,
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It's not a remake or anything, but it's a little bit like that, about relationships and how greed contaminates the relationships these three people have. The working title is
The Grabbers." He reprised his role as Chev Chelios in the 2009 sequel
Crank: High Voltage. In 2010, Statham appeared alongside fellow action stars
Sylvester Stallone,
Jet Li,
Dolph Lundgren and
Mickey Rourke, among others, in the
ensemble action film The Expendables. Statham plays
Lee Christmas, a former SAS soldier and expert at
close quarters combat using knives. The film was commercially successful, opening at number one at the box office in the United States, the United Kingdom, China and India, and grossed a total of $274 million worldwide.
2011–2015: Commercial expansion In his first film of 2011, Statham starred in
the remake of the 1972
Charles Bronson film
The Mechanic as Arthur Bishop. A
theatrical trailer depicting Statham's character "shooting a man's head off"
was banned from circulation by the
Advertising Standards Authority for showing excessive violence. His role in
The Mechanic was positively reviewed by the critics both in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The Guardian praised his performance as possessing a "now-customary efficiency" in attaining "an entertaining hitman thriller".
The New York Times noted Statham as "sleek as a bullet"; and the film "a more powerful recharge" of the original. UK newspaper,
The Daily Telegraph hailed Statham as "England's best export to action movies in just about forever, a businesslike brute with gentlemanly soul." He returned to British film by starring in the police drama
Blitz as
Detective Sergeant Tom Brant. The film received mixed reviews with Cath Clake of
The Guardian reviewing it as "not half bad" and "oddly entertaining". He was then cast in the action film
Killer Elite. The film was based on real events, which were the subject of
Sir Ranulph Fiennes' novel
The Feather Men. Statham played an assassin named Danny who comes out of retirement to save an old friend, played by
Robert De Niro. The film grossed returned a negative budget, and was panned by the critics. In August 2011, he began filming
Parker for director
Taylor Hackford; the film was released in January 2013. Statham played
Parker, the criminal antihero previously played by
Mel Gibson in 1999's
Payback and by
Lee Marvin in 1967's
Point Blank (though their characters were given different surnames).
A. O. Scott of
The New York Times said of the actor in the film: "[Statham], who seems to be made entirely of muscle and scar tissue, is comfortable with his limitations as an actor. His Parker, in any case, is more of an axiom than a fully rounded human being." A 2012
BBC News report estimated that his ten-year film career to date (2002 to 2012) yielded over one billion dollars in the box office, making him one of the industry's most
bankable stars. |right In 2013, Statham had a cameo appearance at the end of
Fast & Furious 6 as
the brother of the film's antagonist Owen Shaw (
Luke Evans). He reprised the character, this time as the main antagonist, in
Furious 7, which was released in April 2015. He also starred opposite
James Franco in the thriller
Homefront, written by
Sylvester Stallone, and headlined the British thriller
Hummingbird. The latter film was praised by critics for pushing Statham's acting abilities to new heights. His "attempt to develop his 'brand' by trying more adventurous parts" noted by
The Guardian's
Mark Kermode, "[broadened] his dramatic palette". Statham made a cameo in the 2014 music video
Summer of
Calvin Harris as one of the car racers. In 2014, he returned as Lee Christmas in
The Expendables 3. Although critically panned, the film would go on to gross $215 million against a $90 million budget. In 2015, he starred in the action comedy
Spy alongside
Melissa McCarthy,
Jude Law, and
Rose Byrne. The film, a commercial success, was particularly praised for showcasing Statham's comedic side in contrast to his more serious roles. According to an article by
Empire magazine, a
Spy 2 was development in late 2015, with more screen time dedicated for Statham's character, Rick Ford. He was nominated for the
Critic's Choice Award for Best Actor in a Comedy for his role in
Spy. Statham was offered a three-film contract to
reboot the
Transporter series in late 2015, but turned it down because he was not given the script before the signing date and unhappy with its compensation package. According to an article by
The Guardian, Statham expressed interest in playing
James Bond in the upcoming
Spectre film. Its author, Steve Rose noted that "there was no doubt Statham can walk the Bond walk. And talking his talk can hardly be an issue with a character whose accent has fluctuated between
Sean Connery's Scottish brogue and
Timothy Dalton's Welsh." After the interview there were multiple calls from critics and the public to instate him as James Bond in a future film.
2016–present: Continued success The sequel to his 2011 film
The Mechanic was scheduled for production in late 2016 and announced to open as
Mechanic: Resurrection. The film received mixed reviews but was highly commercially successful, grossing $109.4 million worldwide on a budget of $40 million. According to
Forbes, the film was Statham's "seventh-biggest earner" and most commercially successful solo film venture of his career.
CNET reported that the advertisement reached 22 million user impressions. Statham was asked to re-join the
Fast & Furious franchise once more in 2016. The ensuing film,
The Fate of the Furious, was released in April 2017 to commercial success. While the film overall received mixed reviews, Statham was praised for his comedic timing and onscreen chemistry with contemporaries. The film went on to be the
third highest-grossing film of 2017 and the
12th highest-grossing film of all time.
Spy 2 was confirmed on 15 February 2018. But later in 2018, Feig explained that although a sequel to
Spy could still happen, "there hasn't been any interest from the studio" in the project. Statham played the lead, former Naval captain Jonas Taylor, in the 2018 action-horror film
The Meg, which was released on 10 August. The film would go on to gross $527.8 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing U.S.-Chinese co-production of all time. In 2019, Statham reprised his role as Deckard Shaw again in
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, a spin-off of the
Fast & Furious franchise focusing on his and
Dwayne Johnson's characters. The film grossed $758 million worldwide, becoming the
tenth highest-grossing film of 2019, and received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for Statham's performance. In 2022, Statham established his own production company, Punch Palace Productions. ==Public image==