Jason Statham’s Highest-Rated Movie Proves an Obvious Truth About His Billion-Dollar Action Career

Spy proves a glaring truth about Jason Statham’s career. Statham is an action movie icon whose films have collectively grossed more than $8.4 billion, making them some of his highest-grossing films. The Fate of the Furious ($1.24 billion), Meg ($529.3 million) and The Expendables 2 ($274.5 million). Statham has proven to be a box office attraction both as a lead in franchises and The Mechanic, The transporterand Crank and as a supporting character, especially Deckard Shaw in Fast Saga, who played the title role in the 2019 spinoff Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw.

However, amid his many successful independent and franchise action films, Spy comments have earned the star his best Rotten Tomatoes score yet with a near-perfect Certified Fresh score of 95% on the review aggregator platform. This is its best score by a considerable margin, putting it 14% ahead of its number 2 title, Furious 7which is certified fresh at 81%. Overall, the star has only earned four Certified Fresh scores throughout his career, with the rest going to The bank’s work (80%) and Padlock, stock and two smoking barrels (75%).

Jason Statham is great for comedies (despite being an action star)

Spy proved his comedic talent

2015 Spy was a particularly comedic action comedy thanks to leads Melissa McCarthy and Rose Byrne, as well as director Paul Feig, allowing Statham to open up and deliver a solid comedic performance throughout. This led him to be nominated for the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Comedy Actor in 2016. Although he lost to Christian Bale in The Big ShortThe comedic performance earned the star one of her only major award nominations of her career, having been widely nominated for the Teen Choice Awards and a Razzie Award (for Mega 2).

Although Spy is one of his only pure comedy roles; many Jason Statham action films feature him providing comic relief. This is particularly notable in Fast franchise, where there were moments of humor throughout The Fate of the Furious. This is probably one of the reasons he was chosen to lead Hobbs and Shaw alongside Dwayne Johnson, as the dynamic between their characters fueled a strong comedic storyline along with high-octane car stunts which the franchise is known for. He also deftly handled the more comedic tones of his Guy Ritchie films, which include Snatch and Operation Fortuna: Ruse de Guerre.

Jason Statham’s action idols are also great at comedies

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone often mix genres

Statham has already cited his inspirations in action films, which include stars like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger alongside Clint Eastwood, Bruce Lee, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. Many of these stars are known for playing the rough, no-nonsense roles that Statham is also known for. Stallone’s iconic action moves include launching the Rambo and Rocky franchises, while Schwarzenegger is also known for a variety of roles, including THE Terminator, Predatorand The running man.

However, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone films also tend to contain a lot of comic relief. From Stallone’s turn opposite Kurt Russell in Tango and money to Schwarzenegger’s funny action roles in projects ranging from Terminator 2: Judgment Day to Command, Both actors are known for mixing comedy into their action films. Both stars have also starred in straight comedies, which include Stallone in the title role of the mob farce Oscar. Schwarzenegger appeared in even more comedies, including The Holiday Romp Jingle until the endbuddy comedy Twinsand Ivan Reitman’s male pregnancy film Junior.

Jason Statham should be in more comedies like Spy

He would be a memorable comic book protagonist

While many of Statham’s action films are entertaining and feature solid comic relief, his role in the Melissa McCarthy film gave him a chance to show a side of himself that is rarely seen on screen, even poking fun at his typically serious on screen. The fact that he was able to stand out in a film that featured such strong comedic actors, a list that also included MirandaMiranda Hart, Will and GraceIt’s Bobby Cannavale, MotherAllison Janney, The officeZach Woods, and VeepSam Richardson, shows that he is perfectly capable of leading a proper comedy film.

However, none of Jason Statham’s upcoming films are comedies. While the next Fast 11 will probably have some comic relief, her other future roles seem intensely serious. This includes the one written by Stallone Levon Commerce of Suicide Squad director David Ayer, the conspiracy thriller Riot of Plane director Jean-François Richet, and an upcoming untitled thriller from Everest director Baltasar Kormakur. So far, a role like the character he played Spy unfortunately appears to be off his radar, though another pure comedy could showcase the action star’s range, as well as potentially earn him more awards attention.