Jason Statham: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

4. Parker - Parker (2013)

In Parker, Statham did something most action stars would never do: he got his ass kicked... a lot, and frankly, he wasn't a tough guy unless he had a gun. The actor pushed himself out of the perceived safe zone of playing Jason Statham in different clothes, and played literary character Parker, a criminal with rules that no one quite understands who only cares about pride and his money.

It was strange when Statham was first cast in the role previously brought to screen by Mel Gibson (in Payback, as Porter, and who was closer to what Donald E. Westlake's book describes physically). Statham was a bald, well-built Brit that didn't fit the bill when it came to atypical tough guy Parker. Still, Statham committed to the role and he pulled it off.

This is not the traditional Statham tough guy performance, and he actually comes pretty close to the way the character was originally written - which in turn helped to inform a broader view of Statham as an actor, away from the high-octane silliness of Crank - especially as we saw far more realistic combat scenes and genuinely threatening situations.

Parker was proof that Statham could inhabit a character that wasn't Jason Statham. He disappeared into the role of Parker and convinced fans of the books that he wasn't just the badly-cast, bald-headed Brit that kicks ass every weekend.