It's been awhile, but there was a time when Jason Statham wasn't just the guy who busted heads every time he was in a movie. Now he's become a genre unto himself, so even when a refined filmmaker like Taylor Hackford directs him in Parker, it looks like every other Statham film out there. Statham's latest film, Hummingbird, has him kicking butt and taking names yet again, but the trailer suggests a little more in the way of substance.
Dirty Pretty Things scribe Steven Knight makes his directorial debut, which may be a reason for the more ambitious aspirations. Bearing some resemblance to last year's underrated street thriller, Safe, Statham plays a homeless former soldier who tries to turn his life around but gets involved with the criminal underground in London's Chinatown district.
There's still a fair share of knocking guys around here, but Statham also gets to show off his rarely used dramatic chops. Knight also wrote Viggo Mortensen's Eastern Promises, and some of the gritty, muted aspects bear more than a striking resemblance. Hummingbird hits U.K. theaters in May and is still waiting for a U.S. date.
