On DVD and BLU RAY - "Redemption" (Originally Titled: "Hummingbird") - Jason Statham moves a baby-step closer to being a three-dimensional actor with this small-scaled tale of an ex-soldier haunted by his past and hiding out in London's underbelly. The dude even cries... and it's believable! There's only a couple of one-sided fight scenes to speak of, as this is a deeper, more dramatic affair that finds our Hero acting as the enforcer for a Chinese gangster and using the proceeds for good. Hunting for a killer of prostitutes, he falls for an altruistic Nun along the way... yeah, it sounds weird but it's pretty straightforward and doesn't jump off the rails. The fashion in which our Anti-Hero ultimately deals with "the killer" is pretty damned no-nonsense kinda cool.
Statham's homeless, alcoholic war veteran, "Joey", escapes a brutal beating from a couple of street thugs by breaking into a wealthy artist's retreat and assuming his identity. Realizing just how far he's fallen, our hero attempts a hail-Mary effort to re-invent himself, ditching the greasy-haired, grimy look and sobering up in the process. Remembering the derelict souls he left behind, the former military man puts his skills to use by working as a debt collector for a middle-man mobster (Benedict Wong) and sending large amounts of the proceeds to a local Nun and her soup line setup. Statham's inherent presence and scenery chewing is on full display, though most who are familiar with his body of work will recognize the addition of a number of those "little touches" that seasoned actors convey so expertly with just a slight, stirring movement of facial expression. His sarcastic, deadpan delivery and glowering stare is obviously what his fans expect, though there's no good reason why it should define his entire career- then again, maybe I'm in the minority there...
Polish Actress Agata Buzek shines as the virtuous Nun who finds herself tempted by Joey's mysteriously edgy but humble charms- she's good-as-gold and desperate to help, but also secretly longing to break free of her calling's constraints. Although Buzek is an accomplished actress in Europe, I was previously unfamiliar with her- perhaps that's because of her atypical look that most filmmakers seldom embrace when casting leading ladies. Most will find Buzek's limited by layered performance to be the strongest, most memorable aspect of the film- it's a modest, natural turn that's quite heartbreaking. I wish there had been much more of her character.
This film marks the feature film Directorial debut of Steven Knight, the screenwriter of such films as "Eastern Promises" and "Dirty Pretty Things". Knight also supplies the screenplay here and the overall effort is solid, though it could have used a once-over polish. The cinematography is often striking and the limited action scenes are coherently staged and edited. Overall, I felt Redemption was a welcomed change of pace for Statham that's only seriously hampered by a decidedly lackluster ending. I liked the English Action Star's "Blitz" (2011) a bit better, but this is similarly toned and might be worth a look for his fans- then again, that all comes down to what they're expecting from him...
7.0 out of 10
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