Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie are getting the band back together. The action star and the filmmaker who helped launch him with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch are teaming up again for a revenge thriller called Dogfight, which is being set up at Netflix. Details are still emerging, but a movie featuring the two of them throwing fists and British banter back and forth is exactly the sort of thing that gets people talking. It should be said right away: this new project has nothing to do with the 1991 romance drama that shares the same title, and anyone expecting River Phoenix and Lili Taylor's story will be in for a surprise. What this Dogfight will be is a straightforward action vehicle, and it is one that's expected to draw serious attention.
A partnership that goes way back
The interesting thing about Statham and Ritchie is how much history is packed into their collaboration. When Ritchie made his debut with Lock, Stock in 1998, Statham was basically a newcomer who had come out of the world of street sales and diving, not a traditional acting background. That movie became a cult hit, and it made the pair hot property in the UK. Then came Snatch in 2000, with Brad Pitt, Benicio del Toro and Dennis Farina joining the party, and it cemented the duo as a brand. After that, they went their separate ways for quite a while. Statham built himself into a full-blown action star through The Transporter series, Crank, and eventually the Fast & Furious franchise. Ritchie went off to direct Sherlock Holmes, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Aladdin.
Cinema is full of on-screen reunions that look great on paper and disappoint in practice, but this one has a different feel to it. Statham's early work with Ritchie had a specific energy: sharp dialogue, a bit of grit, and an unfussy sense of humour. It worked. So the idea that the two of them are going back to the well, this time with Netflix money backing them, is enough to get fans excited. There's added appeal in the fact that both men are older now and have more experience to draw on, which could give the material a different edge.
Netflix keeps betting on big names
The project is another example of Netflix building its film slate around big stars and established directors. The streamer doesn't have to worry about worldwide box office, which means it can greenlight the kind of mid-budget action movie that big studios have moved away from in recent years. Statham already has a strong relationship with the platform, and bringing Ritchie into the fold gives the company another well-known filmmaker with a loyal audience. For Ritchie, it's a chance to make something lean and mean between bigger studio assignments, while for Statham it's a return to the kind of material that made him famous in the first place.
Nothing has been announced yet about who else might join the cast, or when production could start. Netflix has a habit of announcing projects before the cameras are ready to roll, so there's no confirmed release window. That hasn't stopped people from speculating. The reunion is the main hook, and it's a strong one. The Statham-Ritchie combination gives the movie a clear identity from the start. Audiences know what they're getting, and that's often the hardest thing to sell in a crowded market.
The title issue no one can avoid
There is one unavoidable bit of confusion: Dogfight already exists as a film, and it's a world away from what Statham and Ritchie have planned. Nancy Savoca's 1991 drama, released on October 4 of that year, stars River Phoenix as Eddie Birdlace and Lili Taylor as Rose Fenny. The film follows an 18-year-old Marine Corps volunteer in the fall of 1963 who is about to ship out with three buddies to Vietnam. On their last night in San Francisco, they throw a blowout and set up a contest called a "dogfight." It's a tender, melancholy drama with a strong cast, including Richard Panebianco, Anthony Clark, Mitchell Whitfield and Holly Near, and it holds a 6.9 out of 10 rating on TMDb. It also has a 94-minute runtime, so it's a tight, intimate story.
That means anyone Googling Dogfight in the months to come will get a confusing mix of results. The 1991 film is a sensitive period drama in English from Hollywood; the new one is a revenge action movie for Netflix. The titles are the same, but that's about all they share. If anything, the overlap could put the older film in front of a new audience, which isn't a bad outcome for a movie that never got the attention it deserved.
For now, fans of Statham and Ritchie will just have to wait for more information. If the movie lands anywhere near the quality of Lock, Stock or Snatch, Netflix will have a crowd-pleaser on its hands. If it doesn't, it'll still be an entertaining ride watching two old collaborators try to rediscover the spark that made them both famous.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
