HOLLYWOOD—I hate to say it, but let’s speak a bit of truth. If you have seen one action-flick starring Jason Statham, you have seen them all. I really haven’t seen one that is vastly different. He plays the titular action-hero, who finds himself boxed in a corner, and has to find a way to get out of it, while beating the crap out a bunch of mercenaries or really bad people.
Statham’s latest flick is “Mutiny” which follows Cole Reed (Statham), a former police officer, who serves as a bodyguard for a very large cargo shipping company KMG. His boss is Tibu Campallo. Tibu is killed during an ambush, and Reed is framed for a crime he didn’t commit and is forced to go on the run.
This just has to be pointed out, the first 30 minutes or first half of “Mutiny” is a bit slow. It takes some time to get its footing, but once its footing gets going, the audience’s attention will be maintained. How so? The action-flick has a narrative that focuses on the issue of human trafficking. Yes, we have seen this in previous flicks, but its potency is the fact that this is a real-life crisis not just in the United States of America, but globally.
That notion alone tugs at your heart, at least it did for me and pulled me into the story. Cole and Angie (Annabelle Wallis), an employee of KMG discover the human trafficking operation and decided to infiltrate it. The story doesn’t go anywhere unique after this, it’s just plenty of Cole and Angie try to outwit the big bad and his crew from having their human trafficking operation exposed and from the Navy getting involved in the process.
There is plenty of hand-to-hand combat courtesy of our action-star and some of the deaths are downright brutal. There was one scene involving a lock that had me cringe, not to mention the use of a fishhook that is not just dicey but cutting at the same time. “Mutiny” has some fun action sequences, explosions, gunplay and for that alone I give the movie a B+, but story wise things just fall flat. There is nothing that gets you super excited or enthralled, and all the characters are flat, even Wallis as Angie can’t make you feel any real emotion.
“Mutiny” is Jason Statham’s movie, and he holds it for the most part, but as I’ve stated before you’ve seen a movie like this before. Just look at “Wrath of Man,” “The Beekeeper,” and “A Working Man” to name a few; I could name many others, but what’s the point. If you want a decent B movie that you can watch during a lazy day, “Mutiny” is your cup of tea. If you’re looking for something to change your life, you’re not getting that with this action-flick.
Written By LaDale Anderson
