Jason Statham Once Felt That He and Jet Li Have Only Done 1 Movie Together That Was Any Good
Actors Jason Statham and Jet Li have collaborated with each other on a few action films. But Statham felt that the first few movies he and Li did together weren’t too good. However, that might have changed later on.
How many movies have Jet Li and Jason Statham done together?
According to IMDb, Statham and Li have both had starring roles in five features. 2001’s The One was the first film that brought together the action stars. Afterwards, Li and Statham faced off again in the 2007 thriller War. The last three times Statham and Li would work together were the three Expendables films.
Statham, in particular, has always been a fan of Li’s. So he considered it a career highlight that he found himself working alongside the expert martial artist.
“I worked with Jet Li, wu shu champion of China at 15 in the men’s, I have so much respect for these people. The fact that I get to do a movie with someone like Jet…you rewind ten years ago, if I said I was going to do a movie with Jet Li, people would say, ‘You’ve got to stop drinking, mate! You must be on drugs!’ It’s just incomprehensible that I could ever be in that position,” Statham once said in an interview with Rotten Tomatoes.
Jason Statham once felt he and Jet Li had no good movies together
Statham may have been more than enthusiastic to work with Li, but he had a low opinion of their films.
“Though I still don’t think we’ve done a good movie together! We’ve done two films, neither of them has been any good,” Statham said.
But Statham felt he and Li might have finally found a quality movie to star in with Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables. In a resurfaced interview with Britain’s OK (via Contact Music), Statham opened up a bit more on his and Li’s less than stellar films.
“All the movies I’ve done with Jet, apart from [The Expendables], have been no good,” Statham said. “It’s difficult because the first movie I did with Jet wasn’t what it was supposed to be, but it gave me the opportunity to work with Corey Yuen, which was instrumental in me getting the Transporter films.”
Statham and Li didn’t plan on being in The Expendables. But nevertheless, he was relieved that he and Li were finally given a quality film to star in.
“It’s coincidental that we were doing this film together – not that we tried to beat Sly up, hold him down and say we want to do another film together, so make sure we’re both in it,” Statham joked. “You do a couple of bad films, and you’re on the scrap heap. So you just have to try to be smart with your choices – that’s the hart part!”
How did ‘The Expendables’ compare to Jason Statham and Jet Li’s other movies?
The Expendables were a step above Statham’s and Li’s previous movies both critically and commercially. The One and War both hold a score of 13% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 90 and 60 reviews respectively. Each of the movies also hold a 51% score when it comes to reviews from the general audience. According to The Numbers, they’ve also had lukewarm to below average returns at the box office.
On the other hand, the first Expendables generated a 41% critics score and 64% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie also pulled in $274 million at the box office, making back its budget and earning itself two more sequels. With all that, it seemed that quite a few would agree with Statham’s sentiments about The Expendables.
