Mutiny (15)

Highly decorated former Special Forces operative and Metropolitan Police officer Cole Reed leads the bodyguard detail of billionaire Tibu Campallo. During a visit to Bangkok, arm-toting assassins kill Tibu and Cole is framed for the murder, masterminded by business rival Daniles. Cole sneaks on board the cargo ship Artemis captained by Marko Madsen and deep in the hold, Cole discovers malnourished and dehydrated migrants locked inside a shipping crate and he vows to help them escape.

LondonNet Film Review

Mutiny (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Jason Statham is all at sea in his latest action-packed caper, which pits the former diver and model turned big screen hard man against a ruthless people-trafficking ring that uses shipping containers to transport unsuspecting refugees to their miserable fates. French director Jean-Francois Richet trades the airborne thrills of his previous film, Plane starring Gerard Butler, for hand-to-hand combat on a moving cargo vessel replete with a large fishhook and harpoon gun as conveniently placed weapons…

Statham plays highly decorated former Special Forces operative and Metropolitan Police officer Cole Reed, who leads the bodyguard detail of billionaire Tibu Campallo (Ramon Tikaram). Cole saved Tibu’s life five years ago and is considered part of the family. The taciturn protector oversees security in Bangkok where Tibu completes the sale of his shipping company, KMG, to provide his son Kameron (Chaneil Kular) with funds to pursue his dreams. Shortly after celebratory glasses have been clinked, arm-toting assassins kill Tibu and Cole is framed for the murder, masterminded by business rival Daniles (Simon Kluth). Bangkok police give chase and Cole impersonates a KMG employee to board the cargo ship Artemis captained by Marko Madsen (Roland Moller).

Deep in the ship’s hold, Cole discovers malnourished and dehydrated migrants locked inside a shipping crate and he vows to help them escape. Cole is now the right man in the wrong place to wage a one-man crusade against Marko, first mate Mateo (Arnas Fedaravicius) and the rest of the crew, who are willing accomplices to the trafficking. Luckily for Cole, third mate Angie Ellis (Annabelle Wallis) is a last-minute addition to the crew and she is equally appalled by the captain’s heartless actions. Angie aligns with Cole to protect the innocent and issue a mayday call to a nearby US Navy captain (Adrian Lester) and his aircraft carrier.

Mutiny is a derivative Die Hard clone that utilises every nook and cranny of the cargo ship to play a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between Marko’s villainous crew and Cole and Angie. Fight choreographers Laurent Buson and Godefroy Ryckewaert, who worked with Statham on his last film Shelter, put the actor through his paces in frenetically paced skirmishes including one-on-one showdown in the tight space between two shipping crates.

Statham has sustained a fruitful career from growling risible dialogue and screenwriters Lindsay Michel and JP Davis throw plausibility overboard to arm the actor with unintentionally hilarious one-liners. Co-stars Wallis and Lester are complicit in the ludicrousness, delivering clunky exposition with impressively straight faces. An early scene with a TV reporter, whose leaden and monotone delivery of an evolving story defies belief, establishes the haphazard tone. Breaking news: the tide is high but expectations are low.

– Jo Planter