It goes without saying that Jason Statham is one, if not, the best modern action stars working today in movies. After being discovered by then-rookie filmmaker Guy Ritchie and given a starring role in the director’s debut film, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Statham quickly rose to prominence. His rugged onscreen charisma made him a staple of crime thrillers, while his martial arts prowess turned him into an action star. Movies that made the best of Statham’s two sides cemented his stardom and old-school appeal. These undoubtedly played a part in catapulting him to blockbuster fame with The Meg series, The Expendables and Transporter trilogies, and his later inclusion in The Fast Saga. He also has some unorthodox but highly praised movies under his belt, like the hilariously vulgar Crank duology and his unexpected dramatic turn in Hummingbird.
But believe it or not, none of these are the actor’s highest-rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes. That honor goes to Spy, a raunchy parody of the spy genre written and directed by Paul Feig of Bridesmaides fame. As of this writing, Spy boasts a Certified Fresh Tomatometer of 95%, with a decent Audience Score of 78%. Of Statham’s filmography, the closest competition that Spy has is Furious 7, which only has a Tomatometer score of 81% but a stronger Audience Score of 82%. What’s even more notable about Statham’s two highest-rated movies is that he isn’t even the main character in either of them. Although he does portray a spy in Spy, he’s only a side character and the foil to the movie’s star, Melissa McCarthy. Similarly, in Furious 7, he portrayed Deckard Shaw, the rival of franchise star Vin Diesel. Additionally, Spy is currently the only comedy in Statham’s repertoire. None of these take away from the fact that Spy isn’t just one of Statham’s most critically acclaimed movies to date, but that it also showcases one of his best performances yet.
Spy Is Melissa McCarthy’s Farcical Take on the Spy Genre
The Movie Continues the Tradition of Mocking Cinema’s Super Spies
On its surface, Spy could be easily mistaken for a James Bond homage. The movie begins with suave CIA super spy Bradley Fine (Jude Law) on the trail of the sale of a nuclear weapon on the black market. Fine’s classy infiltration into a banquet, the ensuing action peppered with slow-motion for emphasis and even an animated title sequence with a power ballad blaring on the soundtrack cemented Spy’s apparent fealty to spy movie clichés and 007’s formula. However, there was one major difference between Spy’s prologue and most Bond movies: Fine only pulled off his super spy feats with the help of Susan Cooper (McCarthy), a CIA analyst who’s been stuck at her desk job for a decade and counting. Susan did everything for Fine, such as providing reconnaissance, vital information and even taking care of his personal schedule. Though Fine was capable at his job, he was nothing without Susan.
Susan’s thankless job, plus everything else that followed in the movie, showed that Spy was simultaneously a homage to and deconstruction of the super spy genre, especially those of the macho mold. Susan was actually one of the CIA’s best potential agents, but Fine’s ego and the agency’s internalized sexism locked her in a desk job for years on end. She was underestimated and condescended upon at every turn by almost everyone, especially by the loud and boisterous one-man-army Rick Ford (Statham). Despite her age and looks not aligning with the way that the spy genre depicted female agents for decades, Susan rose to the occasion. Not only was she as good at firearms and action (such as vehicular chases) as Fine and Ford, but she was also smarter and more cunning than any active agent\\py was far from the first movie to lampoon the spy genre. Even before Sean Connery turned Bond into a cinematic icon in 1962’s Dr. No, mocking cinematic spies was something of a tradition in the world comedy. The Kingsman and My Spy movies are only the most recent example of this trend in action. Meanwhile, the Austin Powers trilogy and the hit adult cartoon Archer remain its gold standard. Older examples include Casino Royale (1967), The Man Who Knew Too Little, and Top Secret! just to name a few. The prevalence of spy spoofs can be traced back to how ridiculous yet overly self-serious spy stories tend to be, but such parodies were predominantly told from the perspective of a male spy or observer. Spy was ostensibly no different from these hit spy spoof series, but it was notably one of the few told from a female perspective.
That being said, Spy worked less as a feminist anthem and more as a pointed take-down of the childish masculinity and sexism that are so inherent to spy fiction. The movie’s commentary on chauvinistic spy movies and misogynistic workplaces only went as far as showing that Susan can do what her male counterparts did, but better. Either that, or Susan sarcastically commented on and called out the absurd inequalities and expectations before her. When compared to similarly subversive and feminist-coded action movies like Birds of Prey, Captain Marvel, Kill Bill or Mad Max: Fury Road, Spy falls short in action and themes. On the other hand, it excelled at taking the spy genre’s machismo and its hyper-masculine heroes to task. Nowhere was this joke and commentary more overt than in Ford’s characterization and, more importantly, Statham’s performance.
Jason Statham Stole Every Scene He Was in as Rick Ford
Rick Ford Is a Knowing Mockery of Jason Statham’s Onscreen Persona
“Nothing kills me. I’m immune to 179 different types of poison. I know because I ingested them all at once when I was deep undercover in an underground poison-ingesting crime ring.” – Rick Ford
For all intents and purposes, Ford is a typical Statham action hero. He’s a dangerously capable spy whose greatest accomplishments include killing hordes of enemies, surviving death-defying fights, having one-night stands with countless women, and so forth. The only emotions he showed were cold detachment, barely-restrained anger and unbridled rage. He always dressed sharply, and he never missed the chance to remind Susan (and viewers) about how cool he was. On paper, Ford was no different from the stoic assassins Statham portrayed in Killer Elite and The Mechanic. He was the rough action movie anti-hero to Jude Law’s Bond surrogate, Agent Fine. But where Statham’s characters were the biggest badasses in their respective movies, Ford was a joke in Spy. What’s more, Statham himself was a walking punchline.
Spy cleverly and hilariously demolished the juvenile male power fantasy that movie spies embodied. This was done by having Ford do and say the kinds of things expected of movie spies and Statham’s characters, only to give his words and actions more embarrassingly realistic outcomes. To wit, his profanity-laced bravado only annoyed and creeped out his co-workers. His refusal to ever admit fault and cooperate with others wasn’t a sign of steadfastness, but of boyish stubbornness and stupidity. His list of accomplishments was dubious, with it being exaggerated at best and completely fictitious at worst. He was always overshadowed by Susan, not just because she was great at her job, but because he was laughably incompetent. Every spy movie stunt Ford attempted ended in failure, like being easily spotted by enemy agents or knocking himself out cold just before the climactic gun battle. Arguably, the only time Ford got the last laugh was when the closing stinger revealed he slept with Susan. However, this meant that she lowered her standards, not that she genuinely fell for him.
All this was only possible through a combination of Ford’s characterization plus Statham’s performance and real-life cinematic reputation. It’s difficult not to read Ford as a spoof of the kinds of characters Statham portrayed. Even better, Statham himself was in on the joke. Spy was at its comedic best whenever it mocked the archetypical movie spy’s transparent self-indulgence and childish understanding of masculinity through Ford. All the jokes about Ford were made at his expense and that of Statham’s real-world perception. Some viewers even suggested that Statham’s movies were what Ford imagined himself doing in his tall tales. Not only did this highlight how cinematic spies and other fictional action heroes can’t properly function and socialize in real life, but how silly it is to aspire to be one in the first place. Statham’s deadly serious delivery and dedication to subverting his onscreen persona highlighted these parodic themes even more. Given that Spy came out at the height of Statham’s fame, no one but he could’ve and should’ve portrayed Ford.
More importantly, Statham’s performance as Ford showed how talented yet underrated he is as an actor. Due to the fact that he’s best known for punching, kicking and shooting people, Statham’s non-action performances tend to be dismissed and overlooked. This, despite the fact that he has impeccable comedic timing and does a great job of playing the proverbial straight man in comedic routines. Ford’s mere presence proved that Statham had a lot more to offer onscreen beyond his physicality, so much so that he’s often been declared to be the best part of Spy. Even those who weren’t blown away by the movie agreed that Statham stole the movie by making fun of himself and the kinds of characters he’s best known for. It’s no wonder why Spy is one of Statham’s top movies on the review aggregating site, but it’s a shame that he has yet to revisit comedy through similar roles.