Jason Statham brings his usual action credentials to Mutiny, but even some well-choreographed fights and bloody kills can't save this forgettable thriller.
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, a man named John McClane (Bruce Willis; Pulp Fiction), who was bald and muscular and an NYPD detective, stopped a bearded foreign terrorist by hiding in a high-rise office building in downtown Los Angeles in a film called Die Hard. Almost forty years later, a bald, muscular former British military/police officer named Cole Reed (Jason Statham; Furious 7) stops a foreign, bearded ship captain and his crew from human trafficking Asians in a new film called Mutiny. Who did it better, you ask? Hands down, Willis, but there are some decent moments in the Jean-François Richet (Plane)-helmed Mutiny that are worth the watch as it comes to theaters this week.
Reed is a personal bodyguard for a billionaire shipping magnate who is selling his company and retiring. On the way home from the retirement party, Reed and his client/friend are surrounded, and the billionaire is killed, with Reed being framed for his murder. Stealing the credentials of one of the men sent to kill his boss, Reed stows away on the Artemis and soon discovers the crew is hauling more than just cargo. With help from the third mate (Annabelle Wallis; The Mummy), Reed manages to take on the crew, warn the U.S. Navy, and save the individuals being human trafficked.
Statham does what Statham does best here by letting actions do much of the talking. The fight sequences are well choreographed, which certainly helps, but Statham has been making action films long enough to know how to do this sort of thing with his eyes closed. The dialogue is much of what you would expect without the classics, such as, "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker." Still, Statham delivers his lines with the gravitas of a man who just watched his employer and friend die and is out for revenge. Wallis is merely okay as the replacement third mate who had no idea what was in that shipping container below deck. She seems very stoic when speaking about her daughter, whom she let down again when she was forced to take this job or get fired. The rest of the cast is fine, if forgettable.
Director Richet doesn't bring anything new or exciting to the table, and I found myself looking at my watch at least once, which doesn't bode well for a 95-minute movie. There is only so much you can do to create excitement while running around a ship trying to hide from the guys looking to kill you. However, if you have never been on one, you would be surprised how large container ships really are and how many places you can find to hide, even for a short time. If you are the type of person who happens to like a bloody kill, though, there are a few in this film that should whet your appetite.
The cinematography is well done considering some of the tight spaces I'm sure the film crew had to work in. However, there were some shots that simply looked generic and felt as if they could have been taken from anywhere and inserted into this film. The filming certainly wasn't the worst I have ever seen, but it isn't the best either.
Mutiny is the type of film that will attract a certain audience but then fade into oblivion for all eternity without much of an afterthought. Of course, there is no doubt Statham was the right man for the job, but sadly, there is little else that makes the movie appealing. If you need your action/thriller fix or Spider-Man or The Odyssey are still sold out, then you could go and see Mutiny, but then again, perhaps you may just want to stay home.
Grade: C-
