Despite being a tiny little nerdlinger of a man who any member of The A.V. Club could easily take in a fight, Jason Statham continues to bravely star in action films knowing full well the mockery accrued by such a weak and spindly person trying to kick ass. The Rudy of action-film actors has toplined dozens of these kinds of films by now, and it looks like he’s not stopping any time soon. Variety reports Statham has signed on to star in a new, untitled actioner set in Hong Kong, with shooting set to begin in the latter half of 2016.
The project stars Statham as an expatriate Brit living in the island city, who “goes on the run with a high-level female Chinese agent to solve a kidnapping with global implications.” (Not exactly reinventing the courting-the-Asian-market wheel, here.) Plus, the person responsible for writing the script is Kurt Wimmer, the scribe who gave us genre fare like The Recruit, Salt, and, unfortunately, the Total Recall remake. (He also wrote and directed Equilibrium and the hilariously dumb Milla Jovovich vehicle Ultraviolet, so the man’s got ideas, even if they are bonkers ones.) As long as Wimmer can give Statham enough scenes that cover up his embarrassingly minuscule physique, our generous participation in the gentle charade of Jason Statham, action star, can continue unabated. We’re all pulling for the lil’ fella.