Former Afghanistan soldier Joey (Jason Statham) is living rough and is on the run following a court marshall. Joey is at an all time low and spends most of his time getting drunk and generally being a nuisance to people. However, when Joey discovers that a woman that he was very close to has been killed, he gets his act together and makes it his mission to find out who killed this woman. At the same time, Joey has also assumed the identity of another man in order to make it more difficult for him to be tracked down.
With this film, like many others, I think that how much you enjoy this film will ultimately depend on how believable you find the characters, their actions, and the scenarios that they find themselves in. The problem with this film is that a lot of what you see just isn't believable. Joey breaks into a random guy's apartment who; 1) Isn't in - convenient? 2) Happens to be away in New York for a few months - doubly convenient? 3) Joey seems to be able to waltz in and out of the apartment without any of the neighbours noticing or questioning who he is 4) The apartment owner's bank card and PIN arrive whilst he's away - yes it's possible but again it's terribly contrived. This is only for starters;
Joey is clearly suffering from some sort of post traumatic stress disorder from his time in Afghanistan (which is understandable) and it shows that Joey occasionally suffers from flashbacks when he is attacked or when he goes to attack someone - this is good in a way as it helps to understand Joey's character, but the writing is inconsistent - sometimes his PTSD is ignored and he can go on killing or attacking loads of baddies without any issue and then now and again he'll have flashbacks. I just found that this was either ignored or adopted in order to suit the narrative. We have a nun who gets drunk and offers herself on a plate to Joey - I suppose it's good for 'surprise' value, but again isn't believable.
Die Hard Statham fans may be a bit disappointed with this film as it isn't as action packed as some of his other outings. The lack of action wasn't a problem for me, but what was a problem was the largely boring and uninvolving story - there was no tension, no suspense, no action, no... well nothing really. It took a ridiculous amount of time to get going and by the time it did I had pretty much lost interest.
The film's saving grace was the way it ended; when Joey is talking to the nun Cristina (Agata Buzek) and he explains that he's a lethal weapon that hurts a lot of people when he's sober and that he drinks in order to make himself weaker - that scene was beautiful. It does mean that we understand his character and it explains why he was so passive at the start, but for me it was all a case of being too little too late. Statham played another likable character and his monologue at the end showed he was a good guy - although giving his ex and kid a load of money and then buggering off seemed a bit shallow and seemed like he was taking the easy way out - wouldn't it have been better to have seen him reconcile with his ex and his kid?
Hummingbird isn't your standard Statham film and therefore I applaud everyone involved for giving Statham the chance to take on a complex character and for allowing him an opportunity to show that he is far more capable than many people give him credit for. I personally felt that this was one of his better performances (admittedly that's not saying much), but I really felt he was much better in this film than he has been in many of his other films. Let's just hope he gets some really good material to work with one day.
With this film, like many others, I think that how much you enjoy this film will ultimately depend on how believable you find the characters, their actions, and the scenarios that they find themselves in. The problem with this film is that a lot of what you see just isn't believable. Joey breaks into a random guy's apartment who; 1) Isn't in - convenient? 2) Happens to be away in New York for a few months - doubly convenient? 3) Joey seems to be able to waltz in and out of the apartment without any of the neighbours noticing or questioning who he is 4) The apartment owner's bank card and PIN arrive whilst he's away - yes it's possible but again it's terribly contrived. This is only for starters;
Joey is clearly suffering from some sort of post traumatic stress disorder from his time in Afghanistan (which is understandable) and it shows that Joey occasionally suffers from flashbacks when he is attacked or when he goes to attack someone - this is good in a way as it helps to understand Joey's character, but the writing is inconsistent - sometimes his PTSD is ignored and he can go on killing or attacking loads of baddies without any issue and then now and again he'll have flashbacks. I just found that this was either ignored or adopted in order to suit the narrative. We have a nun who gets drunk and offers herself on a plate to Joey - I suppose it's good for 'surprise' value, but again isn't believable.
Die Hard Statham fans may be a bit disappointed with this film as it isn't as action packed as some of his other outings. The lack of action wasn't a problem for me, but what was a problem was the largely boring and uninvolving story - there was no tension, no suspense, no action, no... well nothing really. It took a ridiculous amount of time to get going and by the time it did I had pretty much lost interest.
The film's saving grace was the way it ended; when Joey is talking to the nun Cristina (Agata Buzek) and he explains that he's a lethal weapon that hurts a lot of people when he's sober and that he drinks in order to make himself weaker - that scene was beautiful. It does mean that we understand his character and it explains why he was so passive at the start, but for me it was all a case of being too little too late. Statham played another likable character and his monologue at the end showed he was a good guy - although giving his ex and kid a load of money and then buggering off seemed a bit shallow and seemed like he was taking the easy way out - wouldn't it have been better to have seen him reconcile with his ex and his kid?
Hummingbird isn't your standard Statham film and therefore I applaud everyone involved for giving Statham the chance to take on a complex character and for allowing him an opportunity to show that he is far more capable than many people give him credit for. I personally felt that this was one of his better performances (admittedly that's not saying much), but I really felt he was much better in this film than he has been in many of his other films. Let's just hope he gets some really good material to work with one day.