Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2012

Jason Statham’s talent is being able to appear repeatedly in these high-energy, illogical movies and remain solid in spite of the material. An ex-cop cage fighter is so beset by the Russian mob for not throwing a fight that he’s nearly suicidal. A reason to live comes along in the form of an imperiled 12-year-old Chinese girl with an eidetic memory being used by the Triads as a human memory chip and pursued by those very same Russkies. His rescue methods mainly involve killing lots of bad guys. Jason’s comfortable with his little subgenre (playing it Safe?), as are his fans. But both could aim higher.