The movies that defined Jason Statham’s career range from the early crime dramas where he served in a supporting role to the annual action movies that have made him a star. Statham got his break in 1998 thanks to British filmmaker Guy Ritchie, following a career as a model and an athletic stint as a high diver.

Since then, Jason Statham has become one of Hollywood’s most reliable action stars. Statham has become one of the few actors who can consistently carry an action movie to success in theaters. While not all his films are great, Statham has developed a loyal fan base who love what he does and will support him every step of the way.

Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

The movie that started Jason Statham’s career was the 1998 Guy Ritchie dark comedy crime film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Statham was one of several H๏τ breakout British actors in the movie, including Vinnie Jones, Nick Moran, and Jason Flemyng.

Jason Statham’s first scene in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels proved that the actor was a star on the rise. Statham is Bacon, a black market criminal who appears in the first scene of the film. He is charming, witty, and likable, trying to sell jewelry to a group of people. At the same time, he also sells himself to viewers.

This was only the start for Jason Statham, who went on to appear in several other Guy Ritchie movies before finally striking out and becoming a star in his own right.

Snatch (2000)

Two years after Jason Statham enjoyed his debut role in a Guy Ritchie movie, he rejoined the director as one of the lead characters in the ensemble crime drama Snatch. While their first outing together was arguably their best, it was Snatch that helped make Statham a breakout star worthy of leading his own movies.

The film featured a large cast, with two stories told in parallel. One story follows a diamond heist, while the second involves a man trying to get a fighter to throw a fight. Statham was part of the second story, along with Brad Pitt, in one of his actor’s most eclectic performances.

Statham is the boxing promoter who owes money to a crime boss and is trying to get Pitt’s fighter to throw his next match. With Pitt and Benicio del Toro also in the cast, Statham proved here that he could thrive, even against Hollywood royalty.

Ghost Of Mars (2001)

There is not much memorable about the sci-fi horror action movie Ghosts of Mars. It was a disappointing later career film by John Carpenter, and was a remake of ᴀssault on Precinct 13, but in space. However, it also had one thing that made it memorable. This was Jason Statham’s first pure action movie role.

Statham was supposed to be the lead in the movie, but the studio didn’t have faith in him and preferred a bigger name in the lead role, which ended up being Ice Cube. One wonders how the movie would have been if Statham were the main star and not the supporting role of Officer Jericho.

Despite the movie’s lackluster reputation, Statham proved he was up to the task of playing an action star, with mᴀssive gun battles and shootouts, and some big fight scenes. This opened the door for movies with Jet Li and then, later, his own franchises.

The Transporter (2002)

The same year that he appeared in Ghosts of Mars, Jason Statham also teamed with Jet Li for the first of several collaborations in the highly underrated The One. This opened more doors for Statham, and he finally got to take the lead in his own solo action movie in 2002 with The Transporter.

In the movie, Statham starred as Frank Martin, a man who delivers packages with some simple rules, including not knowing what he is delivering, and not wanting to know. When he learns he is smuggling a young woman, he takes action and becomes an action hero.

This was a mᴀssive moment for Statham because he turned this into his first franchise, starring in two sequels before stepping aside for other actors to carry on the role. This was the movie franchise that really made Statham a star in action circles and shone a light on what his career would look like in later years.

Crank (2006)

Released four years after The Transporter, Jason Statham started another franchise, although it died after just two movies. That is disappointing because the first Crank movie was one of the most creative and fun action releases of the 2000s. Directed by Neveldine/Taylor, the movie had frenetic editing and some hilarious action scenes.

Statham plays a man who is injected with a drug that will kill him when his heart beat drops below a specific rate, so he has to keep his heart going, and this provides some of the funniest scenes in this non-stop action movie. Statham is brilliant as the cocky and confident Chev Chelios, and his sarcasm was spot-on.

The sequel proved that this gimmick could go too far and that it could ultimately become too much. However, Statham was just as good in the sequel, and he proved he could be ridiculous while still kicking ʙuттs, something that turned into his calling card.

The Expendables (2010)

In 2010, something special happened in Jason Statham’s career. He joined the ensemble action movie The Expendables. Sylvester Stallone put this franchise together, combining the action stars of the past (Sly, Dolph Lundgren, Arnold) with modern-day action stars (Statham, Jet Li) and delivering pure R-rated action.

This was a big deal because, other than Stallone, Jason Statham was the lead in this franchise. What this ended up turning into for Statham was a pᴀssing of the torch moment, with Stallone letting the world know that Statham was the future of the action genre, and he helped propel the actor to new heights.

Jason Statham is one of only four actors to appear in all four Expendables movies, and he was the heart and soul of the franchise, especially once Stallone began to step back from the spotlight.

Furious 7 (2015)

While he made his debut in a cameo role in Fast & Furious 6, Jason Statham officially joined the franchise with Furious 7, where he was the new villain, trying to kill Dom and his extended family after they had hospitalized his brother Owen (Luke Evans) in the previous movie. However, this would morph into something bigger.

While it seemed that Deckard Shaw would be the villain the team needed to defeat in this film, he ended up becoming a significant part of the franchise after that. His charisma and likability, along with his fantastic work as a fighter and driver, allowed him to fit into the extended family once his role as a villain ended.

He was so good in Furious 7 that the franchise even retconned him killing Han, and showed that Han survived to eliminate the one reason fans had to hate the character. Statham was just as important an addition as Dwayne Johnson.

Spy (2015)

Jason Statham had proven that he was a bankable action star, and he even showed he could do drama when needed. However, in 2015, he did something incredible and showed that he could be incredibly funny as well. His sarcasm was always top-notch, but in Spy, he carried himself comfortably opposite Melissa McCarthy.

Jason Statham stars as CIA agent Rick Ford in Spy. Ford is a super spy who quits when the agency allows McCarthy’s unproven agent to look for her partner’s killer. However, he shows up and helps her, while insisting that she is going to fail. He is hilarious as McCarthy’s inexperienced spy keeps proving him wrong.

Possibly the funniest part of the movie was the last scene with Statham and McCarthy, where he delivers a perfect closing line that proves he should be doing many more comedies.

The Meg (2018)

Jason Statham had proven he had the chops to lead action movie franchises with The Transporter and Crank. However, in 2018, he shocked the world when he took the lead in a killer shark horror movie and helped to turn it into a franchise starter that finished its run with $529.2 million.

Not including the ensemble movies he starred in, The Meg is the highest-grossing Jason Statham movie ever made, and it warranted a sequel a few years later that wasn’t as good, but still featured what Statham fans expect from his action films. Seeing Statham battling giant prehistoric sharks in close combat was a winning ticket.

Statham was perfect in the movie as the reluctant hero who would rather be anywhere but there, and he made what could have been a B-grade monster movie into something remarkable.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)

The highest-grossing movies of Jason Statham’s career have been in the Fast & Furious franchise. While it might be easy to see it as an ensemble effort, or even a Vin Diesel series, Statham and Dwayne Johnson proved something impressive. They starred in a spinoff that made more than all but two of the F&F movies.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw made $760 million at the box office and only had Statham and Johnson representing the franchise in the movie. If anything, it proved that their characters had almost eclipsed anyone else in the original movies, not named Dom, and Statham proved he was a draw.

Every year, Jason Statham has a new action movie hitting theaters, and fans show up in large numbers to watch them. With Hobbs & Shaw, he proved that he is a draw and remains the best of the new-era action stars, and should be for years to come