Jason Statham: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

3. Bacon - Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

Guy Ritchie's debut, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was also Statham's first film. Ritchie threw the fast-talking Brit into the central role of Bacon and a star was almost immediately born, on the back of easy charisma and a snarky persona that fit well with Ritchie's dark, comic underworld. It's an awesome performance because it introduced Statham in a big, bad way.

Lock, Stock... gave Statham a chance to show off his manic energy and natural charm as an actor, and though it has clearly informed a lot of his later performances, and obviously opened the door to them in the first place, it is easily his most off-the-cuff performance. Along with follow-up Snatch, this is Statham's funniest work, and it's no accident that Bacon feels the most like what Statham would be like away from the screen (or at least who he was before mega-stardom took its grip.)

Statham went on to make some more films with Ritchie, but nothing quite matched the originality of Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, with Statham definitely one of the most enjoyable elements, and still one of Ritchie's most enjoyable character creations.