Thanks to his involvement in box office hits like the Expendables franchise, the most recent Fast and Furious movies and giant shark blockbuster The Meg, Jason Statham‘s star has never been higher than it is right now.
The 53 year-old’s been a regular presence on our screens for over two decades at this point and can always be relied on to deliver exactly what’s expected of him. In fact, the Jason Statham Action Thriller has almost become a subgenre unto itself, and fans of action cinema have always enjoyed seeing the former competitive high diver deliver a series of gruffly charismatic performances in B-level efforts where he barrels his way through an army of disposable henchmen in star vehicles that score decent reviews and perform acceptably at the box office, without ever capturing the headlines or ascending to smash hit status.
Following in the footsteps of Chaos, Crank, War, Blitz, Safe, Parker and Hummingbird, Homefront continues the longstanding tradition of Statham lending his name to perfectly acceptable and serviceable films with one-word titles, although the 2013 movie boasts a surprising amount of pedigree both in front of and behind the camera.
Kiss the Girls and Runaway Jury‘s Gary Fleder directs a script from producer Sylvester Stallone, while the cast bizarrely features Academy Award nominees James Franco and Winona Ryder as a redneck drug kingpin named Gator and his girlfriend, with the always reliable Frank Grillo also along for the ride.
Homefront performed exactly as you’d expect, raking in a shade over $50 million at the box office on a $22 million budget and being greeted with a lukewarm reception by critics. However, it remains one of Statham’s more underrated efforts and is well worth checking out when it hits Netflix next month on January 18th.