Jason Statham, the saviour of the contemporary bullshit action movie, trots yet out another medium budgeted thriller in the shape of Blitz. Set in Statham’s hometown of London , it has his hotdog, Dirty Harry-esque Copper up against a violent, cop-killing psychopath played by the twitchy Aidan Gillen. It’s glossy (always impressive for a Brit-flick), fast paced with great performances from Statham and Gillen (fast becoming one of my favourite actors).
But Blitz never works out what type of movie it wants to be. One minute it’s a gritty drama, exploring how dedicated law enforcers can fall into addiction through the pressures of their job…the next it’s squarely in bullshit territory with groovy guitar wankery on the soundtrack, flippant one liners and high octane foot chases. It doesn’t always gel.
The other issue is the characters. The film can’t decide if it wants to be a solo hotdog cop movie, like Dirty Harry, or a buddy movie of mis-matched cops with a grudging respect for each other. It’s Paddy Considine (as the quietly assertive gay detective) who gets to butt heads with Statham, but their relationship doesn’t constitute a great deal of screen time and is rather weak as a result.
Still if’s a good effort for a British action movie and Statham certainly shouldn’t be embarrassed about having this little thriller on his resume.
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