Most Paused Jason Statham Movie Moments

Jason Statham is an action legend. The English actor with a perpetual scowl has been beating up bad guys for over 20 years, and he's showing no signs of slowing down. He began as a model in the 1990s, making appearances in music videos by bands like Erasure and The Shamen. This led Guy Ritchie to cast him in his feature-length debut, 1998's "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. "From there, Statham appeared in movies like John Carpenter's "Ghosts of Mars" and the Jet Li vehicle "The One," both released in 2001. But it was 2002's "The Transporter" that turned Statham into an internationally recognized superstar. Since then, he's dabbled in comedy ("Spy") and animation ("Gnomeo & Juliet"). Yet he still remains firmly rooted in the action genre, thanks to hits like "Crank," "The Italian Job," and "The Expendables," among others.

As a bona fide action hero, Statham has appeared in countless pulse-pounding sequences. Whether he's going up against a CGI shark or a team of highly-trained stuntmen, audiences know Statham is going to deliver the goods when it comes to raw, brutal, crowd-pleasing violence. These are the Statham movie moments so good, you just have to pause, rewind, and rewatch them — often, multiple times.

Everyone who's seen "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," the third entry in the "Fast and Furious" saga, knows that the following movies, from "Fast & Furious" to "Fast & Furious 6," are prequels. They all lead up to Han's (Sung Kang) inevitable retirement and death, as seen in the climactic car chase of "Tokyo Drift." Still, when the post-credits sequence of "Fast & Furious 6" revisits Han's fatal car crash, nobody expects the revelation that his death was no accident: It was MURDER! What's more, the killer is revealed to be none other than Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw, setting the stage for him to be a major threat in "Furious 7."

While this retcon of Han's death is itself retconned in "F9," which reveals he faked his death with the help of Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell), the impact of Statham's surprise appearance and the hype it brought to "Furious 7" cannot be overstated. Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his family are being hunted by a bloodthirsty assassin, and it'll take all their skills to survive the wrath of Deckard Shaw.

Directed by the dynamic duo of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the "Crank" movies specialize in sensory overload and testosterone-fueled audacity. They're effectively parodies of over-the-top action movies, what with their steadily diminishing sense of reality and open mockery of the audience. As a result, these movies aren't for everyone. Are you interested in watching an absurdly unhinged Jason Statham kick butt while surrounded by characters who mix R-rated caricature with Saturday morning cartoons? If so, you will enjoy the wild ride offered by "Crank" and "Crank: High Voltage."

While "Crank" starts out realistically enough, its stylistic sensibilities slowly overtake the movie in ways both subtle and overt. One particularly notable instance sees Statham's character, Chev Chelios, speaking with a character whose dialogue is subtitled. Chelios can be seen staring at the subtitles, which appear to occupy physical space in his world. As the movies go on, they become increasingly self-aware: The finale of "Crank: High Voltage" has Chelios stare at the camera and raise his middle finger directly at the viewer (while on fire and standing next to a swimming pool, no less). Like we said, it's not for everyone. But the "Crank" duology is worth watching, at least for these moments of sheer unpredictability.

Jason Statham may be in a league of his own when it comes to action superstar-dom, but he's not the only hunky Brit with impressive high kicks. Enter Scott Adkins, star of such films as "Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning" and "Triple Threat." Adkins has earned a reputation as one of the toughest action stars out there, for very good reason. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before he and Statham went toe-to-toe in single combat. That opportunity finally arrived in 2012, with "The Expendables 2."

While Sylvester Stallone's Barney Ross fights the main villain, played by Jean-Claude Van Damme (itself a fantastic fight, complete with steel chains and flying roundhouse kicks), Statham's character, Lee Christmas, fights Van Damme's lieutenant, Hector, played by Adkins. Hector has a knife, while Statham is armed with knuckle-dusters, and the two square off in a bloody duel. While he takes a few hits along the way, Christmas eventually gains the upper hand, ultimately punching Hector into the rear rotor of a helicopter. Rather than being turned into a pink mist, the impact is portrayed more realistically: The rotor is destroyed, though not before it rips off Hector's head and one of his arms. It's a grisly sight, but it only appears on screen for a fraction of a second. Hardcore gore-hounds will find themselves going through it frame-by-frame, to better admire the R-rated carnage.

Statham's star-making role in 2002's "The Transporter" is a big part of what made the film a huge international hit. Naturally, he returned for 2005's "Transporter 2." This sequel has a ton of unique action scenes, though the extra CGI used in the car chases rubs some critics the wrong way. Still, the centerpiece of the whole film is a big melee brawl that sees Statham's Frank Martin take on dozens of guys with his bare hands, a fire hose, and a steel pipe, before escaping in a taxi.

In the "Transporter 2" extended cut, the fight is a little bit different, and ends on a much darker note. The original scene is firmly in PG-13 territory, with guys getting knocked out. They're probably concussed, but they'll survive. In the extended cut, however, one final guard appears, drawing a gun. Reflexively, Martin throws the metal pipe like a spear, which pierces the guard's torso. He drops to his knees, dead. As Martin walks by, he closes his eyes, expressing regret at what he had to do. A tonally unsettling kill that leads to an introspective moment for Martin, it's a shame this vital scene is only available in the extended cut.

The "Crank" movies are arguably more remembered for their sex scenes than for their action sequences. This makes sense: The premise of these movies is that protagonist Chev Chelios must keep his heart rate up, or else the poison in his body will kill him. Think "Speed," but with Jason Statham instead of a bus. One way he keeps his heart going is by having public trysts with his girlfriend, Eve (Amy Smart).

These scenes, present in both movies, would be unwatchable and disturbing if it weren't for the surreal tone of these films. In the world of "Crank," public liaisons, be they on a horse racetrack or in the middle of the street, are just part of the formula. As the action sequences are obscene and ridiculous, the romance scenes need to maintain the same level of bizarre energy. To that end, "Crank" is successful in achieving what it sets out to accomplish — you'll never forget watching Statham and Smart frantically "create friction" on a set of stadium stairs.

By 2015, some moviegoers had dismissed Jason Statham as a one-trick pony who wasn't terribly valuable outside of the action genre. This opinion arrived despite his strong early performances in Guy Ritchie films and his impressive turn in the underrated 2013 thriller, "Homefront," and didn't seem likely to dissipate. But then, Statham won over a whole new audience with his performance in director Paul Feig's 2015 action-comedy, "Spy."

Statham plays Rick Ford, an overconfident CIA agent who thinks he's the personification of righteous machismo. In fact, he's a bumbling laughingstock nobody takes seriously. His complete lack of self-awareness is a constant source of comedy — in fact, he's the subject of what is arguably the biggest laugh in the movie. At one point, while the villains have our heroes disarmed and held at gunpoint, Ford arrives to save the day. He busts open a door, walks through, deploys a savvy one-liner, and aims his weapon at the enemy. Unfortunately, his long coat gets caught on the doorknob, causing him to slip, fall, and drop his gun. An exasperated Melissa McCarthy mutters, "He means well." Embarassed, Ford picks himself up off the ground and joins the other hostages.

When a giant prehistoric shark declares war on humanity and starts eating everyone in sight, only one man (and a bunch of supporting characters) can fight back. That man is Jason Statham. "The Meg," released in 2018, follows Statham as he does battle with the gigantic shark while trying to protect his comrades and innocent beachgoers.

This wild film has its fair share of PG-13 terror, though director Jon Turteltaub originally intended for the film to be a blood-soaked, R-rated gore-fest. Nevertheless, a decent amount of nastiness remains in the film, much of it due to the fact that the marine life does a lot of the bleeding, rather than unlucky humans. Ultimately, the titular megalodon shark is killed after Statham's character cuts it open with his underwater vehicle and stabs its eye with a harpoon. Drawn to the scent of blood in the water, a swarm of smaller sharks rush to the scene and devour the "meg" in a bloody mess. Thus, nature corrects itself and finally eradicates a species that should have died out millions of years ago.

One of the first scenes in Michael Mann's 2004 masterpiece "Collateral" sees Tom Cruise's mysterious character pick up a briefcase from a balding man in a dapper suit, played by Jason Statham. He only appears in a single scene, but he dresses exactly like his character in "The Transporter," Frank Martin, does. Some viewers speculate that he may be playing Martin himself, making this a subtle crossover. Others believe his casting is an allusion to his famous role, but that there's no real intended connection between "Collateral" and "The Transporter."

Either way, Statham's presence helps set the tone for "Collateral," which stands as one of Mann's finest films. Its gritty realism and incredible digital photography give it a unique look that has rarely been matched by any other filmmaker, save for Mann himself. Meanwhile, Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx offer fantastic performances that explore masculinity and duty and culminate in one heck of a subway showdown.

The entire "Expendables" franchise is full of memorable action sequences, many of which feature Jason Statham. From taking down bad guys with throwing knives to beating up a squad of middle-aged basketball players, Statham kicks all kinds of butt in these movies. Perhaps his most memorable moment in the 2010 first film comes when he and Stallone take down a bunch of soldiers, via an absurdly enormous explosion.

After escaping in their jalopy of a plane, they decide they're not going to leave without causing a bona fide spectacle. Stallone turns the plane around while Statham goes through a secret compartment and emerges out of a hole on the plane's nose. After Stallone dumps fuel all over the pier from which they escaped, Statham uses a flare gun to ignite it. This engulfs the dock in a massive fireball, killing a great many soldiers in the process.

Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, "Death Race," a loose remake of the 1975 cult classic "Death Race 2000," stars Jason Statham as a prison inmate forced to compete in the eponymous Death Race. It's a no-holds-barred vehicular combat challenge that plays out like an R-rated take on "Mario Kart" or "Crash Team Racing," complete with on-track power-ups that unlock the vehicles' weapons. While Statham takes part in his fair share of hand-to-hand fights, the real draw here is the "Twisted Metal"-style mayhem, which Anderson, always a reliable action director, delivers in spades.

While "Death Race" has no shortage of grisly kills and outrageous car wrecks, the film's stand-out moment comes when Statham and allied driver Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson) are forced to take on the Dreadnought, a massive vehicle armed with heavy machine guns, flamethrowers, and impenetrable armor. They knock it off the board by tricking it into colliding with an immovable obstacle at terminal speed, causing it to flip end over end and throw its passengers into the air. This amazing crash is captured in full, and delivers exactly what viewers want from a movie called "Death Race."

There are debates to be had as to what movie contains the best Jason Statham fight scene. However, there is no debate as to which movie contains the most sensual Jason Statham fight scene. That honor belongs to "The Transporter," in which a shirtless Frank Martin kicks over multiple tubs of grease, covers his shirtless body with the slippery goo, and proceeds to engage in a shirtless battle with half-a-dozen bad guys. Did we mention he's shirtless?

Thanks to veteran action director Corey Yuen, this fight has wonderful kinetic energy. Much humor and bone-crunching excitement comes from the henchmen's attempts to grab Statham, who is too slippery to hold. It's a truly unique action scene, full of visual invention and delightful stunts that give the viewer an appreciation of the human body's ability to perform incredible feats. Also, we cannot emphasize this enough: He's shirtless and covered in grease. You don't see that in many action-thrillers.

"Hatchet Harry is a man you pay, if you owe." Those words are spoken by Jason Statham in 1998's "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" when the protagonists consider the possibility of not paying the money they owe Hatchet Harry. Statham relays the story of Smithy Robinson, who failed to pay his debt or offer a reasonable explanation as to why he couldn't. As a result, Hatchet Harry reached for whatever was on his desk and bludgeoned poor Smithy to death with it. That object just so happened to be an immodestly sized sex toy.

The sight of Harry going berserk on Smithy is as absurd as it is intimidating, and the idea of him doing something similar to the protagonists is enough to inform their motivations for the rest of the movie. Statham's narration of this infamous episode, filled with seeming admiration at Harry's audacity, elevates the scene to a whole other level. It's hilarious, memorable, and let 1998 audiences know that Jason Statham was going to do great things.

There is no shortage of fight scenes in the "Crank" films, from bloody shoot-outs to brutal fisticuffs, and even a midair brawl in the skies above Los Angeles. But the best part of these movies is their unpredictability: The viewer honestly has no clue what's going to happen next at any given point. Nowhere is that more evident than in the downright absurd Godzilla fight in "Crank: High Voltage."

Chev Chelios has fought hundreds of bad guys by the time he faces off against Johnny Vang (Art Hsu) in an electrical power station. As such, the movie doesn't indulge in a traditional fight. Instead, the scene suddenly shifts, taking on the aesthetic of a grainy Japanese kaiju movie. Chelios is inexplicably portrayed as a giant "Chev-Zilla," with Vang transformed into an equally gigantic monstrosity. The two proceed to engage in a fight that pays homage to any given "Godzilla versus" movie, complete with absurd wire stunts and sets that look like they're made of cardboard. It makes no sense, and it's one of the best sequences in the whole movie.

From the moment Jason Statham's character is introduced in the closing seconds of "Fast & Furious 6," audiences know it will all come down to a one-on-one,  hand-to-hand grudge match between Deckard Shaw and Dominic Toretto. When the time comes in "Furious 7," their inevitable confrontation does not disappoint. While the fisticuffs are firmly in the realm of PG-13 action, the hits are nevertheless brutal. These characters pummel each other with the full force of their desires for vengeance — Deckard for his injured brother, Owen, and Toretto for his fallen friend, Han.

The fight is pretty close throughout, and beautifully choreographed for maximum impact. Gravity-defying suplexes and absurd flying elbows somehow feel visceral and believable here, even though no human being could ever survive the hits these two titans of testosterone endure. The battle culminates with Vin Diesel's unforgettable line, "The thing about street fights ... the street always wins." Like most of "Furious 7," that line barely makes sense, but it's so sincere that you can't help but love it.