Quick Links
AfterJason Stathammade his memorable screen acting debut in Guy Ritchie’s 1998 black comedy crime filmLock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, followed byRitchie’s 2000 crime filmSnatch, the actor received his breakthrough starring role as criminal courier driver Frank Martin in the 2002 action filmThe Transporter, which established Statham as an actor who possesses an inherent sense of danger and mystery.
While these characteristics have led Statham to play countless morally ambiguous characters over the past 20 years,he has only played a handful of purely villainous roles throughout his career, beginning with his performance as an especially nasty drug dealer in the forgotten 2000 thriller filmTurn It Up. One of Statham’s best performances is featured in the 2004 thriller filmCellular, in which he plays Greer, a murderous criminal who kidnaps a woman, played by Kim Basinger, and confines her in an attic while threatening to kill the woman and her family, for reasons that only gradually become clear to her and the viewer.
While the well-wornhostage-kidnapper dynamicseems to herald a predictable conclusion for the PG-13Cellular, the film transcends this formula due to the cleverness of its plot, as well as the sheer intensity of Statham’s performance, in which Greer exhibits the same heightened level of commitment to achieving his nefarious goals as Greer’s hostage does in trying to rescue herself and her family.
Jason Statham Plays a Ruthless Mastermind
In the opening scene ofCellular, science teacher Jessica Martin, after taking her son, Ricky, to a school bus stop, returns to her house, which is then stormed by intruders who kill Jessica’s housekeeper before kidnapping Jessica. After being taken to a safe house, Jessica is placed in an attic, where she manages to access the wires of the attic’s smashed wall phone and contact a random number, which belongs to Ryan, a carefree young man played by Chris Evans, in what isEvans’ best early film performance.
In addition to the trauma of her kidnapping, Jessica, like the viewer, is genuinely puzzled as to why she’s been abducted until Jason Statham’s character, lead kidnapper Greer, asks Jessica for her husband Craig’s location. After she refuses to give the location, Greer leaves the safe house to abduct Ricky from school. This is overheard by Ryan, who, after realizing the seriousness of the situation, goes to Ricky’s school, where Ricky is taken by Greer before Ryan can intervene.
The 10 Best Jason Statham Movies, Ranked
This Brit made a name starring in Snatch, and has been able to work his way up to becoming a certified action superstar.
While the various obstacles that Ryan encounters in trying to help Jessica throughout the film generate real excitement,Cellularis also smart and surprising in how the film never lets the viewer get ahead of the characters, specifically in terms of the mystery behind Greer’s true motivation for kidnapping Jessica, who makes this discovery alongside the viewer. Greer’s motivation and warped psychology is embodied through the palpable sense of desperation and panic that Greer exhibits while overseeing the film’s elaborate kidnapping plot, which carries the same life-and-death stakes for Greer that Jessica and Ryan encounter in trying to defeat him.
Cellular Is a Superior Action Thriller
While the plot ofCellularhas been criticized for being overly gimmicky, in terms of the various ways in which a cell phone functions as a plot device throughout the film, the film’s titular concept perfectly encapsulates itscore theme of communicationby forcing the film’s characters to measure the intentions and values of other characters through voice instead of actions and appearance.
This is established early in the film, when Ryan, after receiving the first distressed phone call from the kidnapped Jessica, detects a note of authenticity and fear in Jessica’s voice that compels Ryan to go to the police with his concerns, as he becomes increasingly emotionally involved in Jessica’s quest for survival, solely through their phone conservations, to the point of risking his life to save Jessica and her family.
Jason Statham’s Transporter Movies Share a Universe With a Beloved Tom Cruise Classic
Jason Statham’s Transporter character had a small cameo in a Tom Cruise and Michael Mann thriller that makes for one of the coolest shared universes.
In investigating Ryan’s claim, police officer Mooney, played by William H. Macy, visits Jessica’s house and meets a woman, Greer’s lone female accomplice, who claims to be Jessica. While Mooney is initially satisfied with this, when he later calls Jessica’s home number and hears the real Jessica’s voice on an answering machine, Mooney immediately realizes that the woman he met earlier is an impostor due to her accented voice.
The effect of tone and voice is also very powerful within the relationship between Jessica and the primary kidnapper, Greer, largely due toJason Statham’s compelling performance, in whichStatham’s icily detached manner and voice convince Jessica that Greer fully intends to kill Jessica and her family, even if he gets what he wants, especially since Jessica has seen his face.
Jason Statham Should Play More Villains
Cellularwas released theatrically approximately one month after the thriller filmCollateral, which features one of Jason Statham’s most intriguing performances in the cameo role of a mystery man,later revealed to be Frank Martin, who gives Tom Cruise’s assassin character, Vincent, a briefcase containing the faces and names of Vincent’s targets.
IfCellular, which became a box-office disappointment with a total worldwide gross of nearly $58 million, had been a box-office hit, Statham would definitely have played more purely villainous roles. However,Statham’s subsequent villain roles, beginning with the 2005 thriller filmChaos, have all featured the actor as morally gray anti-heroes, such as mercenary Deckard Shaw, whom he has now played in six installments oftheFast & Furiousfranchise.
The role of the conflicted criminal whose good intentions slightly outweigh their bad ones has become such a staple of Statham’s career that it’s become a tired archetype. While the actor and audiences may not be entirely comfortable with Statham playing a purely evil character, he would be well served by finding a role as interesting and morally unambiguous as that of Greer inCellular.Cellularis available to rent onApple TV,Prime Video, andGoogle Play.
