Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie's Criminally Underrated Spy Thriller Is Perfect From Start to Finish
June 27, 2026 34,155 views

Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie's Criminally Underrated Spy Thriller Is Perfect From Start to Finish

By Michael Torres
It’s been a bumpy start to the year for Jason Statham, who starred in one of the biggest financial disappointments of his career with Shelter. What made the film’s box office bombing even more shocking is that it came out of the gates with some of the best reviews of any Statham-led actioner in 10 years. The Stath will

It’s been a bumpy start to the year for Jason Statham, who starred in one of the biggest financial disappointments of his career with Shelter. What made the film’s box office bombing even more shocking is that it came out of the gates with some of the best reviews of any Statham-led actioner in 10 years. The Stath will see redemption this August in a new action thriller, Mutiny, which hails from Plane director Jean François-Richet. The action thriller also stars Annabelle Wallis, famous for her role as Grace in Peaky Blinders. Fans won’t have to wait long once the ball drops in 2027 to see a new Statham action movie, as he’s been confirmed to reprise his role as Adam Clay in a sequel to The Beekeeper, which is coming to theaters on January 15, 2027.

One of Jason Statham’s most frequent collaborators over the years has been acclaimed action director Guy Ritchie. The duo first worked together all the way back in 1998 for the release of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, which was also Statham’s feature acting debut. After reuniting a few years later for Snatch, co-starring Brad Pitt, the duo worked together a few more times until their most recent release briefly brought things to a halt. The last Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie movie, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, came out in 2023, and despite the combined star power of Statham and other big names like Aubrey Plaza and Josh Hartnett, the film bombed at the box office. Three years later, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre has found redemption on streaming as one of the top 10 most popular VOD titles on various platforms around the world.

Six actors. One role. Your answers point to the Bond who shares your presence, your method, and your particular way of carrying the weight of being the most dangerous person in the room.

You are the original — and you carry that fact without needing to announce it. There is an authority in the way you occupy a room that others spend careers trying to replicate.

You understand something that more serious people miss: that wit is its own form of intelligence, and that making people laugh is not a retreat from danger but a way of mastering it.

You took the role seriously when everyone wanted you to coast — and that refusal to take the easy version of anything is the most defining thing about you.

You are the complete package — and you know it, which is part of what makes you so effective and occasionally so infuriating to the people around you.

You stepped into something enormous with less preparation than anyone around you thought was sufficient — and you delivered something genuine anyway, which is the more impressive achievement.

You stripped everything back and found what was underneath — and what was underneath was harder, more honest, and more human than anyone expected.

An official synopsis of Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, which also stars Hugh Grant and Cary Elwes, reads as follows:

“Elite spy Orson Fortune is reluctantly recruited by British intelligence to thwart the sale of a deadly weapons technology to the highest bidder. Forced to enlist the help of Hollywood's biggest action star, Fortune and his crack team deploy charm, deception, and brute force across sun-drenched international locales in a slick, globe-trotting caper.”

Operation Fortune earned a poor 51% from critics but a solid 82% from audiences on the aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes. The film cost $50 million to make, which left it with a break-even point of around $100 million, but it grossed only $48 million at the global box office. The film has shades of both James Bond and The Italian Job, perfect for fans of sleek spy thrillers with a splash of the classic heist adventure.

Check out Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre on VOD platforms like Prime Video, and stay tuned to Collider for more streaming updates and coverage of Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham’s future projects.