Joseph is an ex-soldier who had operated in the middle east, now he is a homeless thief in London. When a girl he knows disappears he gets his act together as a paid thug for a Chinese crime network, stealing another man's identity along the way. However his immoral lifestyle is countered by Cristina, a nun working in the mission that had helped him and other homeless people.
Unlike every other Statham movie (very much its own genre at this point) Hummingbird is a surprisingly morose, quiet and involving film. Statham's Joseph is a troubled man tormented by visions on his past, living in a state of desperation. I'll be honest, I didn't even recognise him for the first few minutes of screen time!
This troubled and tired Statham is almost completely lost when his character breaks into an apartment and tidies himself up. I was afraid good ol' Jason was back already and the film would descend once more into a mire of shoot outs.
But, amazingly, it didn't. Cristina (Agata Buzek) holds just as much of the screen as he does, and brings a lot of conviction in her role. As a result a more human Statham is expressed as the plot dabbles with their relationship and how Joseph's character can possibly find peace.
But... the film is quite clunky too. For all its pacing, quiet moments and focus on character building Hummingbird didn't feel like it knew what it was doing. Joseph's objective isn't clear, and while the interaction with Cristina is great, half-way through you might be asking yourself: "Why is any of this happening?"
Trying to write a synopsis for this film is difficult, put it that way.
I enjoyed it for the atmosphere, for seeing Statham in a more challenging role, and seeing a film providing deeper characters for him to play off of.
It isn't your typical Statham flick; if you are looking for his usual brawls and shoot outs you will be disappointed (you might even turn it off thirty minutes in!) but if you're like me and want to see him do something different, give it a shot.
No comments:
Post a Comment