Every Jason Statham Movie Remake, Ranked Worst To Best
By Published Apr 26, 2026, 12:20 PM EDT Padraig is a Senior Features Writer and has been part of Screen Rant since 2017. Padraig is a writer, editor and retired Game of Thrones extra who has been writing about movies and TV online for over a decade. He has also written for The Irish Times, Den Of Geek, Little White Lies and many more. It's pronounced Paw-rick, BTW. follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap
has appeared in a surprising number of remakes, though not all of them are worth seeking out. The world is hardly lacking for , with the genre being the British star's bread and butter. He's nabbed himself plenty of franchises along the way too, with various , including The Transporter and Fast & Furious movies. Early on in his career, Statham also found himself on a run of remakes.
Ranging from classic comedies to gritty action thrillers from the 1970s, his reboot era certainly isn't lacking in variety. Sadly, there are also a mixed bag, with many of them coming before Statham had really defined his movie star persona. Still, there are a few gems scattered amongst the crowd, and even a mediocre Jason Statham film can provide a fun night's entertainment.
8 The Pink Panther (2006)
While he rarely steps into the genre, Statham has a natural flair for comedy, as the likes of Snatch or Spy have shown. He's quite fun during his short-lived, uncredited role in 2006's The Pink Panther, playing a football coach whose murder kicks the story into gear. Unfortunately, the movie that follows is a real slog.
Steve Martin is a comedy icon for a good reason, so if anyone was going to replace Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau, he was one of the strongest choices. On paper, this remake should at least be fun. It's got Martin and an amazing supporting cast that includes Kevin Kline and Emily Mortimer, but it somehow just sits there.
Martin's Clouseau is a deeply irritating creation, and the gags are played as broadly as possible. This worked in The Pink Panther's favor as it was a huge hit, but it's also aged terribly. It's a reboot that's best left forgotten, and Statham fans curious about his cameo should just check it out on YouTube.
7 13 (2010)
13 Tzameti is an acclaimed French thriller from 2005, where a desperate man finds himself competing in an underground Russian roulette tournament. The movie's bleak atmosphere and black-and-white look made it one of the most memorable crime thrillers of that year, and it felt inevitable Hollywood would attempt a remake. Armed with original director Géla Babluani and a cast that included Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke and Ray Winstone, there's no reason the 2010 update shouldn't have worked.
Except, it doesn't, and it feels like everything the original 13 did so well is lost here. The sweaty tension is gone, and the focus on subplots for the other players makes it very baggy. The most disastrous choice was losing the unique black and white look of 13 Tzameti, resulting in an ironically colorless American thriller that wastes a very impressive cast.
There's a good reason this remake sat on a shelf for years before barely getting a release. Even Statham completionists would do well to skip this one.
6 Wild Card (2015)
Jason Statham and Burt Reynolds' careers intersected in interesting ways. They both co-starred in the collective worst film of their careers (In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale), while Statham starred in two remakes of Reynolds vehicles. Wild Card was an updating of Reynolds' gritty 1986 thriller Heat, based on the novel by William Goldman (The Princess Bride).
Sadly, neither adaptation of Goldman's source material is all that great. Wild Card came at something of a lull in Statham's career, where he was coming off a run of forgettable actioners like Parker or The Expendables 3. Wild Card is more of a drama with occasional bursts of action, and benefits from colorful supporting players like Stanley Tucci and Jason Alexander.
It's simply a case that Wild Card feels very stale. It's low-energy during the dramatic beats, and the action is nothing Statham couldn't do in his sleep. To put it more succinctly, there's a good reason even Statham fans rarely mention this thriller over a decade on.
5 Ghosts of Mars (2001)
, and one that marks the second time John Carpenter remade his favorite Western. This 2001 sci-fi actioner is another riff on Rio Bravo, the classic John Wayne "Oater" about a sheriff and his deputies under siege from a gang of outlaws.
In Statham's case, he and the rest of the cast (including Ice Cube and Clea DuVall) are fighting miners possessed by vengeful alien spirits. Carpenter's penultimate movie was a critical and box office disaster upon release, with particular critiques aiming at its dated special effects and stilted dialogue.
In hindsight, it's clear Carpenter had his tongue in cheek with this spirited B-movie. Ghosts of Mars is a fun, trashy late-night watch, but its chitzey sets and silly flashbacks within a flashback structure are marks against it. Still, it's hard to truly dislike an action movie where Ice Cube swordfights a muscle-bound alien dubbed "Big Daddy Mars."
4 The Mechanic (2011)
The Mechanic took one of Charles Bronson's best thrillers from the 1970s and turned it into a more generic Statham star vehicle. Still, there is a blunt efficiency to Statham's updating that makes it work. It helps that the film has a surprisingly classy supporting cast, including Ben Foster (playing the protégé to Statham's titular assassin) and the late, great Donald Sutherland.
The Mechanic largely drops the semi homoerotic vibe of the original in favor of a meat-and-potatoes action flick. Director Simon West (Con Air) shoots it with aplomb, and at a lean 90 minutes, it doesn't waste anybody's time. Still, that's the biggest problem with the reboot: it doesn't even try to do something fresh.
The odd bond that forms between Statham and Foster wrings some emotion from proceedings, but it feels like the movie is ticking off an unseen quota of fights and shootouts before wrapping up. Perhaps the biggest sin of The Mechanic 2011 is undoing the fittingly downer ending of the Bronson version.
3 Death Race (2008)
The same year Statham left The Transporter series in his rearview mirror, he stepped behind the driver's seat again for Death Race. This Paul W.S. Anderson movie casts him as an ex-racer forced to take part in the titular prison race. It's basically a grungy, dystopian version of the Fast & Furious from that point on, to the point where Tyrese Gibson plays one of the other racers.
On a plot and story level, Death Race is boilerplate stuff. Statham is a loving family man framed for his wife's murder, and has to endure standard prison indignities to seek his revenge. Where the film comes to life is in the race sequences, which have a pleasingly crunchy, visceral edge. The editing is too darm jittery at times, but the practical stunts and effects make up for that.
Death Race is a solid night's entertainment, but given the premise, Statham's punch-ups are sadly rare on the ground. The remake also spawned STV sequels of its own, but Statham is nowhere to be found in any of them.
2 Mean Machine (2001)
Jason Statham made his screen debut in 1998's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, which also marked Guy Ritchie's directorial debut. It's fair to say the two have come a long way since, but at the time, the star who really walked away with the gangster comedy was former footballer Vinnie Jones.
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In the aftermath, producers scrambled to find suitable star vehicles for Jones, with Mean Machine being the best. The film is a loose remake of Burt Reynolds' The Longest Yard, with Jones' disgraced footballer being forced to play a prison match. In addition to the leading man, this 2001 sports drama features familiar faces like Danny Dyer, David Hemmings and Statham as the terrifying convict Monk - who just happens to be a superb goalkeeper.
Mean Machine is at once very clichéd and familiar, but it's also a breezy good time. It's got a cast of likable characters, and the football scenes are shot with vigor. Statham is also hilarious in his supporting part, and makes one wish he'd lean harder into comedy.
1 The Italian Job (2003)
Yet another entry in the "Jason Statham Driving" subgenre, The Italian Job updates the classic Michael Caine crime caper. This 2003 reboot has no business being as charming and fun as it is. Since this was still early in Statham's career, he was playing support to bigger names like Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, and Edward Norton.
The cast is the movie's biggest asset, and the gang of thieves at its center makes it such a fun ride. It's not terribly original as heist movies go, but it clearly isn't trying to reinvent the wheel either. An argument could be made The Italian Job 2003 is just as entertaining as the original, which, aside from its legendary car chase and ending, hasn't aged that well in other areas.
It also gives Jason Statham several spots to shine, even if he's largely there to add color to proceedings. There's a world where Statham and the other actors reunited for sequels, but given how accidentally great The Italian Job 2003 turned out to be, it was best not to tempt fate.
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