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Photo: Everett Collection
Through over two decades of career ups and downs, Jason Statham himself has maintained a certain clockwork consistency in his action-movie output. While there was a time when some of his work flirted with the direct-to-video market (Wild Card and Blitz were never wide releases in the U.S.), he has never succumbed to the streaming boom; the man has simply never made a movie directly for Netflix, Prime Video, or HBO Max, despite his popularity on those platforms. Even as bona fide megastars have dipped into streaming films, Statham movies hit the cinemas first. So eagle-eyed Statham fans might have been a bit confused if they happened to notice that briefly, for some time on Wednesday, August 19th, Statham’s new movie Mutiny dropped on Prime Video.
It wasn’t supposed to.
In fact, it was a literal accident. As reported by The Verge, Statham’s new movie, which is out in theaters starting with preview showings on Thursday, August 20th, briefly appeared on Prime Video the day before. Allegedly, this wasn’t just a mistaken listing, but the movie itself; a writer reportedly was able to watch the full movie, though it was swiftly taken off of Prime Video, presumably after someone at the service, or at Lionsgate (the studio releasing the film in theaters) realized the mistake. If you’d prefer to picture Statham himself rampaging into the Amazon offices like he’s the damn Beekeeper for real, that, of course, is also permissible.
This listing might not have looked out of the ordinary even (or especially) to Statham fans, who are probably accustomed to seeing their guy on those Top 10 charts displayed on some many service’s home pages. Earlier this year, when Statham had his vehicle Shelter in theaters, Operation Fortune was charting on Prime Video, while the fourth Expendables movie was doing the same on Netflix. And these are his flops! His recent hits like The Beekeeper have done even better. That one was an Amazon/MGM release in the U.S., meaning it was streaming for free on Prime Video after finishing its theatrical run. So it was only natural to assume Mutiny would be doing the same (though as a Lionsgate release, it will likely stream on Starz, not Prime Video, when the time comes, though it will be available through Amazon PVOD, likely sometime in September).
So, no, Mutiny is not currently on Prime Video. If you caught it this morning, you got a free sneak preview of a movie the rest of us will have to check out in theaters if we want to watch it this weekend.
However! As alluded, there is no shortage of Jason Statham movies, in general or on Prime. No fewer than nine Statham vehicles are currently streaming on Prime Video, including one of his best and several of his worst. If you were really hoping to catch some Stath on the couch this weekend, or if you just want to get in the mood to catch Mutiny in theaters, here’s a rundown of those Statham Prime Video offerings.
Photo: ©MGM/Courtesy Everett CollectionThe Good: The Beekeeper (2024); Safe (2012)
The Beekeeper somewhat inexplicably became Statham’s biggest movie as a solo star (that is, no Stallone, The Rock, MEG, or other giant creatures) in early 2024. Maybe it’s that the movie’s bonkers conspiracy plot had resonance in a post-Sound of Freedom world, or maybe it’s the way director David Ayer hits a silly-but-badass balance that the best earlier Statham vehicles like The Transporter traded on, but have been out of whack in his more recent work, which either skews too cartoonish or too grim. Whatever the reason, audiences actually picked a pretty good one. Safe more closely resembles the recent (and better overall) Shelter, tasking Statham with the protection of a child. It’s not quite as lived-in as the more recent version, but it’s still a solidly entertaining and violent thriller, and not one of his biggest hits, so it’s definitely worth checking out for fans who haven’t seen it yet.
Stream The Beekeeper on Prime Video
The Bad: Blitz (2011); In the Name of the King (2008); Redemption (2013)
On the other hand, fans who haven’t swept the corners on Statham’s prolific career may be tempted to see him play a cop, or a medieval warrior, or a man consumed with… guilt?! Unfortunately, none of these more obscure Statham vehicles are really worth your time. Statham actually makes for an awkward fit in cop roles; applying his roughness to a figure of officially sanctioned authority only makes him look like a tool of state oppression. Likewise, the number of medieval fantasies Statham has done since In the Name of the King (zero) might hint at how well-suited he is that genre (though he totally should have been in that Guy Ritchie King Arthur movie). Redemption is the least terrible of this lot; it’s the directorial debut of Steven Knight, who made the Tom Hardy vehicle Locke and created the TV series Peaky Blinders, and it’s a bit more thoughtful than the average Statham quest for vengeance. It’s also pretty dull.
Stream Redemption on prime Video
Photo: Amazon StudiosThe Middling: War (2007); Homefront (2013); A Working Man (2025)
These movies are all perfectly watchable, but should probably be better, given the collaborators involved. Statham reteams with his The One co-star (and future Expendables pal) Jet Li in War. It’s a shame that so much of it is more lurid crime drama than the action extravaganza you might expect. A Working Man was Statham and Ayer’s immediate companion piece to The Beekeeper, but it defaults to a kind of grimy seriousness that is common to both of their lesser works. And Homefront, well, OK, maybe a Sylvester Stallone script isn’t exactly the most promising beginning. (But he did write Rocky!) Of these refugees from the lower-middle of Statham’s filmography, War is probably the most fun if only for the eclectic cast that includes Luis Guzmán, Sung Kang, and Devon Aoki. (Kang, Aoki, and Statham adds up to three different once-and-future Fast and Furious alumni in a single film.)
Photo: Everett CollectionThe Best: Crank (2009)
Fortunately, Prime Video comes through with some top-tier Statham in the form of Crank, his unhinged action thriller about a man suffering from a movie-world poisoning that requires him to keep his adrenaline pumping in order to stay alive, at least long enough to get revenge on whoever did this to him. Made by the former team of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, Crank is perhaps slightly self-conscious about its over-the-top edginess, but it also feels genuinely intoxicated by its own relentlessness. Statham’s gruff dryness provides the perfect counterpart to the mania of the filmmaking, resulting in the rare Statham vehicle that feels like the product of creative combustion, rather than tailored exclusively to its star.
Jesse Hassenger (@rockmarooned) is a writer living in Brooklyn. He’s a regular contributor to The A.V. Club, Polygon, and The Week, among others. He podcasts at www.sportsalcohol.com, too.
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