Mutiny is a 2026 action thriller directed by Jean-François Richet, written by J.P. Davis and Lindsay Michel, and released by Lionsgate on 21 August. It stars Jason Statham as Cole Reed, a former Special Forces operator and Metropolitan Police officer now working in private security, alongside Annabelle Wallis, Roland Møller, Jason Wong and Adrian Lester. Statham also produced through his Punch Palace Productions banner. At a lean 95 minutes, it is exactly the film it appears to be, and I mean that as a mild compliment.

Let me open with a sentiment I hold sincerely: it will be a genuinely sad day when we stop getting new Jason Statham films where he does kick-ass shenanigans. The man has become a reliable institution, and there is real comfort in knowing that every year or so, another one turns up. Today is not that sad day, and Mutiny is another entry in a long and dependable line.

The setup has Cole working as head bodyguard to a warm, generous billionaire shipping magnate, played by Ramon Tikaram. When his employer is murdered in front of him and Cole is framed for the crime, he goes on the run, ends up aboard a cargo ship belonging to his boss's company, and discovers that the vessel's corrupt captain, played by Roland Møller, is running a human trafficking operation as part of a broader international conspiracy.

Before I go further, I have to share my favourite piece of trivia about this production, because it genuinely improved my day. Mutiny began life as a sequel to Richet's previous action film Plane, which starred Gerard Butler. That sequel was titled, with beautiful simplicity, Ship. Plane, and then Ship. When Butler departed the project, the film was retooled around Statham and mercifully renamed. Somewhere in a parallel timeline there is a movie called Ship, and I think about it often.

The other observation everyone has landed on, correctly, is that this is Die Hard on a boat. The complication is that Under Siege did Die Hard on a boat thirty-four years ago, meaning Mutiny is functionally a rip-off of a rip-off. Under normal circumstances that would be damning. Here it is simply the price of admission, and the film is watchable enough that I did not much mind.

So, where does this sit in the Statham canon? Not among his best. But nowhere near his worst either, and I am pointing squarely at last year's A Working Man when I say that. Interestingly, at least one critic drew the same comparison, noting that Richet is a considerably more proficient action director than that film enjoyed, and I would agree. The ship's cramped corridors, staircases and industrial spaces are used well, and Richet keeps the individual confrontations from blurring into one another.