Jason Statham’s refusal to die onscreen might be a habit he’s picked up from Expendables co-star Sylvester Stallone. Since Statham’s first action role in Ghosts of Mars, he’s become one of the biggest action stars of the 21st century. Even 20 years after his genre debut, the success of movies like The Beekeeper prove he’s as popular as ever. When Stallone selected Statham as his co-lead in The Expendables movies, it felt like the action legend was passing his action crown to the British star. The two have collaborated on other projects too, like David Ayer’s A Working Man.
Stallone was one of the first movie stars to recognize the value of fostering franchises for himself, and his protégé has learned that lesson. Time will tell if A Working Man spawns another Jason Statham franchise, but it’s hard to imagine his character Levon will die before the end credits roll. In fact, Statham hasn’t died onscreen since 2007’s War, where his corrupt cop faced off with Jet Li’s vengeful assassin – and lost. Since then, Statham’s characters have proven remarkably durable.
Jason Statham Appears To Have Inherited Sylvester Stallone’s No Death Rule
Stallone has refused to die onscreen since 1978
In the Netflix documentary Sly, Stallone revealed the origin of his no-death rule. He disagreed with the director of his thriller F.I.S.T., where Stallone’s union leader Kovak (who was loosely based on Jimmy Hoffa) is gunned down in the finale. The star hated this grim ending but was overruled. While Stallone has since flirted with the notion of killing characters like Rambo or Rocky, he hasn’t been killed in a movie since 1978. In the aftermath of his work with Stallone, Statham appears to have adopted a similar rule.
The star has been incredibly prolific since War, yet none of his characters have come close to perishing. Now, this could just be the result of Statham focusing on mainstream fare, where his heroes dying would risk bumming out audiences. Even with this in mind, there are some movies, like The Mechanic, that feel like they warranted a bleaker ending for Statham’s heroes. Hell, he even undid one of his rare screen demises with Crank: High Voltage, in which his previously deceased hitman Chev got a new lease on life.
.,. Jason Statham’s characters almost always tick the same boxes – and surviving to the end has become one of them.
Prior to War, Statham was more open-minded about playing doomed characters. He meets untimely ends in Ghosts of Mars (being hacked to death by the titular spirits), Cellular or even The Pink Panther. Statham was still figuring out his screen persona during the 2000s, and it could be argued that he didn’t fully get a handle on it until The Expendables. Since then, Statham’s characters almost always tick the same boxes – and surviving to the end has become one of them.
Several of Jason Statham’s Movies Would Have Benefitted From Darker Endings
The Mechanic should have stayed true to the original movie
Again, Statham’s films are largely designed for mainstream audiences, so they don’t all need to end on down notes. Even so, there have been darker films like Steven Knight’s Hummingbird (AKA Redemption) or 13 that feel like they let Statham’s characters off the hook. The same is true of The Mechanic, a remake of a tough 1972 Charles Bronson thriller. Bronson’s film ended with his veteran hitman being slain by his protégé, but while Statham’s version builds towards the same conclusion, the final scene reveals he survived.
The sequel even dubbed itself Mechanic: Resurrection to hit the point home. This again mirrors Stallone’s no-death rule, even though several of Sly’s movies, like Get Carter or Expendables 4, would have worked better had they committed to more downbeat conclusions. In the same way Statham contractually stipulated his fights with Dwayne Johnson in the Fast & Furious movies couldn’t feature his character Shaw losing, maybe he feels his characters perishing is a sign of weakness.
Jason Statham Should Break His No Death Rule To Shock Audiences
Getting munched halfway through The Meg 3 would give Statham fans a jolt
It doesn’t look like Stallone will break his no-death clause anytime soon, and Statham probably won’t either. Still, it’s a bad habit to fall into, and it would serve Statham well to be flexible with this rule. For instance, if Shaw got killed halfway through Fast 11 (or whatever it ends up being titled) while redeeming his past mistakes, that would feel like a powerful end to Shaw’s arc. Even better, if Statham’s Jonas got eaten during The Meg 3, that would tap into that horror franchise’s B-movie tone.
It wouldn’t hurt Statham to introduce some layers of vulnerability to his protagonists, either. They rarely ever seem to get seriously wounded or beaten down, but mixing up his usual formula could make his films a little less predictable. That said, no-death rules have worked long-term for both him and Sylvester Stallone, so Jason Statham may see no reason to mess with a winning formula.