Jason Statham
is a man who knows how to please a crowd, and even if his movies are hammered into the ground by critics, he can manage to blast his way to a spectacular victory every time. While he found huge critical and commercial success with 2024’s collaboration with director David Ayer on The Beekeeper, back in 2016, Mechanic: Resurrection
was buried under the weight of a 31% Tomatometer score, but now the film just refuses to lay down and die on the free streaming platform, Tubi
.
Following up his 2011 hit, The Mechanic, it was a no-brainer for Statham to reprise his role as Arthur Bishop, a master assassin coerced out of retirement to carry out more increasingly impossible hits. The movie has plenty of the usual intense and over-the-top action sequences, accompanied by a simple plot, and plenty of the usual Statham swagger to boot. Along for the ride in the sequel is Jessica Alba, but even throwing the Sin City star into the mix was not enough to please everyone. Even audiences were split over how to feel about the movie, scoring it just 40% on the aggregated Popcornmeter. But times change, and free streaming is a sure way of bringing any panned or forgotten movie back to the public eye. In the case of Mechanic: Resurrection, it is almost impossible to forget a film that just refuses to go away.
Mechanic: Resurrection is not the only film of Statham’s to recently see success on free streaming. Parker, The One, Wrath of Man, and more have all turned up in free streaming Top 10 lists, while other movies such as The Meg – and its sequel – Hobbs & Shaw, and, of course, The Beekeeper, have frequented similar lists on paid platforms. For reasons unknown, Jason Statham can deliver an almost guaranteed streaming hit, regardless of what anyone actually thinks about the movie itself.
Jason Statham Reunites with David Ayer for ‘A Working Man’
While there are plenty of Statham’s “duds” floating around on free streaming, fans are expecting good things from his new team-up with both The Beekeeper director David Ayer, and his Expendables costar Sylvester Stallone. While the latter does not have the greatest track record right now – we will try not to mention Alarum – Ayer’s movies have more often than not managed to please an audience, and The Beekeeper’s success in both cinemas and on steaming has fans ready for more.
A Working Man, which was formerly known as Levon’s Trade, will hit cinemas in March, and being based on a series of novels, this could prove to be Statham’s next big franchise run. He has already been seen in the Fast & Furious and Expendables franchises, and he has plenty of previous experience of expanding what seemed like a one-movie deal into two. How A Working Man performs at the box office will ultimately decide whether more outings a Levon will be on the cards.
Related
This Wild Jason Statham Action Sequel Is Better than the First Movie (According to Rotten Tomatoes)
Critics appreciated the increased energy and intensity in Jason Statham’s action movie sequel, ‘Crank 2: High Voltage.’
For those that haven’t yet checked out Mechanic: Resurrection – because it is not that you haven’t had ample opportunity – then it is available now on Tubi for your viewing pleasure. As the film heads back up the Tubi chart for the umpteenth time in the last two months, it certainly seems like some people are getting a lot of pleasure from Statham many times over.
- Release Date
-
August 26, 2016
- Director
-
Dennis Gansel
- Runtime
-
98 Minutes
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
