Mutiny

It’s not The Beekeeper – the new milestone for modern, absurd, tough-man action-fantasy and very specifically the Jason Statham variant of that type – but as a piece of reliable action entertainment is reminds why Statham is so good at (or at least useful for) this type of thing.  The follow up from Plane director Jean-François Richet’s action discursion about an accidental action discovery of slavery and Indonesian piracy around a plane, is Boat (which is not what Mutiny’s title is but it really should have been) also about the accidental action discovery of slavery and piracy and the fight against it.  Like his previous film, Richet and company easily recognize how much little the film needs beyond, focusing entirely on blood, knives, bullets and Statham methodically dismantling anyone unfortunate enough to get in his way.  It would be easy to describe it as run-of-the-mill, which is entirely accurate but not at all descriptive. It’s more likely cinematic comfort food; not very good for you but frequently exactly what you want.  In the face of it, it is easy to pine for the batshit insanity of Statham’s wilder endeavors (can’t a man shoot at least one helicopter down with a handgun?) but Mutiny is competent enough which is an enjoyment of its own.

The incredibly action hero-ily named Cole Reed (Statham) – a former soldier and police officer whose name is always said in full by everyone – has been working for years as bodyguard to shipping billionaire Tibu Campallo (Tikaram).  After Tibu sells his company shadowy forces promptly have him murdered (calling Cole Reed’s bodyguard capabilities very much into question) leaving Cole Reed thirsty for vengeance.  Backtracking the route of the assassins to a freighter, Cole Reed sneaks on board to ride it to its destination and hopefully find out who sanctioned his boss’s murder.  Cole Reed is in for more than Cole Reed bargained for when he discovers the freighter is shipping slaves as part of a global human trafficking ring, the likely reason Tibu (no one ever says his full name) was murdered.  Joining up the ship’s temporary third mate (Wallis), Cole Reed has no choice but to save everyone on board AND get his revenge in the process.

It’s both a lot and a little bit of story for a tidy 95-minute run time, spread which manages to alternate between going too fast and too slow and never quite finds that goldilocks zone.  It takes roughly a third of that for the stakes to be set and premise to come into its own as Cole Reed sneaks onto the freighter that will be our home for the rest of the film.  In theory that time has set up his relationships with Tibu and family and why he is doing what he’s doing, but theory only ever takes us so far.  In practice Cole Reed is still enough of an empty slate that even after he discovers the victims and starts dispatching bad guys there is still a need for a Navy captain following the ship who can constantly look up Cole Reed’s past and opine on it in order to fill in any character blanks we still have.  That’s not unusual for these types of films but Mutiny is not exactly overstuffed enough to need it – the spare, single location is filled with roughly 15 victims and half again as many enemies which is not a lot to fill another hour.  These are modern times for action movies, budgets are tight and production values must come down, but that does leave the remaining hour to be stretched around a relatively small collection of villains and there’s just so much Cole Reed to go around.

If there is any sort of action performer who can make this sort of stripped-down non-spectacle function, it is Statham.  His specific sort of hard-bitten charisma often works best when he’s on his own, silently gritting his teeth and setting his shoulders against whatever adversity has been set in his way.  They still must manufacture someone for him to talk to so that the film is more than an hour long, dropping Wallis on board for no other reason as seen by the length of time she spends captured and waiting for him.  That’s not a weakness, either, nothing really is.  Mutiny is terribly competent and not at all memorable – there’s just not enough bizarreness or wit for that – but Richet keeps things moving even as Statham and camera remain frequently trapped in extremely dark cargo holds.  It all reinforces the idea of a professionally assembled action programmer making some level of use out of what it has.

There’s nothing to take away from it.  Not aesthetically, not thematically, not artistically, and there won’t be anything to linger with you once the credits have finished rolling.  None of that means it’s bad or even particularly a waste of time.  Statham’s particular combination of physical credibility, taciturn charm and commitment to hurting bad people is remarkably durable.  There have been better versions of these, and recently, which fully embrace the lunatic energy and big personalities of the genre, but no one else at the moment can make something so fundamentally ordinary remain watchable.  Mutiny is exactly the movie you think it is from its first moment, and that’s perfectly fine.

But they should have called it Boat.

6.5 out of 10.

Starring Jason Statham, Annabelle Wallis, Roland Møller, Adrian Lester and Ramon Tikaram. Directed by Jean-François Richet