With a beefcake physique that suggests oncoming bodily harm, Jason Statham would’ve made a great ’80s action hero; it’s no coincidence that the bullet-headed Brit seemed at home in the Reagan-era reunion tour The Expendables. Acknowledging that the Transporter star could have kicked much ass in the days when Schwarzenegger was king, and having to actually endure a nouveau muscle-neck magnum opus, however, are two different things, as this tough-guy-cinema throwback amply proves. Danny Bryce (Statham) is revered in the world of ultra-violent globe-trotting espionage. But as much as blowing up stuff real good beside his mentor (Robert De Niro, feisty) gives him a purpose, Bryce is tired of ‘the life’. His short-lived retirement ends when his buddy is kidnapped by a vengeful shiekh who wants the bastards who murdered his sons. One of the killers, Spike (Clive Owen), isn’t going to go gently into the night.

Cue black-ops missions, simian chest beating, tonsorial offenses (Owen’s moustache is the film’s real villain), clever quips and too many Bourne-ish elbows to the face to count. By the time Statham beats the snot out of someone while still tied to a chair, the Clancy-lite political skullduggery and schlocky dialogue (Variations of “We end this today!” are repeated several times) has worn down your patience. A few awesome firefights does not an action film make, and even De Niro’s Ronin-esque interlude can’t shake the feeling that the thrill, like the ’80s, is gone.

David Fear

From Time Out New York

Dir Gary McKendry, category IIB, 116 mins, opens on November 17