Blitz

Jason Statham in his typical tough-guy role—emotionless, no real thoughts or opinions, just straight-up hard. The film has that gritty British vibe, but it’s a shame that it drags at times. The music, however, is a saving grace, injecting some life into what would otherwise be a pretty dull crime flick. Statham’s performance, while solid, feels like he’s missing that extra spark he had back in The Transporter. It’s like something’s been missing from his roles ever since, but it’s hard to pin down exactly what. (27/08/2012)

Jeez, it's by the book. I don't know if it's me or the film itself, but some of us couldn't decide whether it was meant to be a remake or a parody of Dirty Harry, awkwardly set in contemporary London. It's often got that street geek English suburbs thing going on, we're constantly moving between walls, welfare blocks, semi-mafia shops and whatnot, but most importantly it clearly wasn't made by a complete moron, because there's a clear overstepping of the brief of "make a moronic whodunit with Statham" in many scenes. Namely, for example, the murder of Robertson rather decently clears the bar. Unfortunately, Statham himself stands here in the role of a funny caricature who still can't use a computer, and even though he's constantly yelled at by his superiors to rein it in, he always blows them off and does things his way. And unfortunately, he can't be trusted to do anything other than probably smash my face in a fight. How the disconnected storyline with the fallen cop independent of the entire plot showed up at this party is just a rhetorical question. (19/10/2015)

It's a shame about the plotholes (and the pointless storyline with the black junkie), but the British do tend to have issues in this area. But they make up for it with other qualities. Like giving Jason free rein to fight crime in London. Brant is a great character, you can’t help but fall in love with him, even though he has to be at least the hundredth slant on hardboiled detective. The feeling of satisfaction with the final (non-)resolution of the case takes Blitz to the next level. This, lads, is a hurley. Used in the Irish game of hurling, a cross between hockey and murder. (31/07/2011)

Characters with no proper motivation, whose behavior is sometimes borderline moronic (Gillen's villain), move around in a crime drama that attracted us with a promising theme and A-list actors via its trailer. If it weren't for them and the good soundtrack and the FB catchphrase, it would have whizzed by like a cheesy TV detective story. (02/08/2011)