Of all the action heroes that have passed before our retinas in the last two decades, Jason Statham seems to me to have the greatest charisma. An actor who replaces his limited dramatic abilities with style and presence. One of those tough guys who emerged as a result of evolution from seventies stars whose names do not need to be mentioned. In other words, Jason Statham is a guy who is liked when he appears on screen, whether in products of dubious credibility or attempts to do something more, like the present ‘Redemption’ (‘Hummingbird’, Steven Knight, 2012).

This is the debut feature of Knight, whose greatest achievement in his resume is having written the script for ‘Eastern Promises’ (‘Eastern Promises’, David Cronenberg, 2007). One of the maxims in Knight’s scripts are usually characters doomed to a destiny from which they cannot escape, searching in a certain way for redemption. Statham’s character enters fully into that universe, and the result is a product that is at times atypical, at times very typical, that does not tell anything new, but entertains enough.

Jason Statham plays a retired ex-military man, who now lives in London earning a living in a not very legal way. In his ghost lives the feeling of guilt for a terrible event that occurred in the past, during the war, and now he tries to purge his guilt by doing good deeds with the money he obtains illegally. In his adventures, while he flees from the government and hangs out with unwelcome people, he will become friends with a nun who sees him with different eyes.

Who covers a lot…

‘Redemption’ tries to touch a lot of things. On the one hand we have the story of redemption that the Spanish title indicates, and that in the original has to do with the hummingbirds that remind Joey (Statham) of what happened in the war. On the other hand, the typical action film in which the actor shows off his great style by punching, kicking and other various things. There is also a criticism of the military, the least committed point of the story. A drama about immigration, with some hard moments. And finally, the most delirious: the story between Joey and the nun.

This character is one of the strong points of the story from several points of view. On the one hand we are talking about a nun who seems at certain moments to be a guardian angel for the protagonist, and at other times to be a kind of temptation, another sin to add to the agenda. That this happens in a film at the complete service of someone like Jason Statham is not without its charm, the film even reaches somewhat embarrassing moments in this regard. We are human beings, not souls seeking forgiveness.

In any case ‘Redemption’ is directed with a certain verve. Knight has taken more care of the script, in which he has tried to leave everything absolutely closed, giving the impression of wanting to please all types of viewers, and largely failing in doing so. Fortunately, the staging, what Knight debuts in, comes to offer a film that is viewed with some pleasure, and even its failures can be approached with a certain sense of humor. That is, if we don’t want to take things seriously. If not, the thing doesn’t work, no matter how cool the ending may be. Who will be able to offer the actor a product worthy of his charisma? Roger Donaldson almost did it a few years ago.