Hummingbird (2013)

Elevator Pitch: Joey is a man on the run from court martial for criminal activty in Afghanistan and is drunk and homeless. When ousted from his cardboard box, which he shares with a young woman, Isobel, he runs away, accidentally breaking into a luxury pad and taking on the persona of the absent owner. He returns to life, becomes a gang enforcer and befriends a nun, with her own problems, who runs a soup kitchen. When he finds that Isobel has been killed he swears vengeance, and as the date of the return of the absent flat owner approaches he needs to run down the killer, and realise his relationship with the nun. 

Content:  There is implied sex but no nudity, however at an art exhibition a lot of photos of male genitalia. Much drinking and implied drug taking and some smoking. There are a lot of flashbacks to Afghanistan, gradually revealing what Joey did after his fellow soldiers were killed by a terrorist. Also a flashback to what the nun did. Joey is gradually rehabilitated and goes to work for a Chinese restaurant, then after revealing his combat skills becomes an enforcer and driver, garnering large amounts of cash.  His relationship with the nun features, and she expresses concerns to the mother superior,  deciding to relocate to Sierra Leon in the end.

A View: This is fairly routine Jason Statham stuff, and it is no surprise to see him taking on a variety of bad guys. The critics who saw it were divided which is not surprising, it is cliched and one of the drivers of the plot, the death of Isobel is not important to us – we only saw her briefly at the beginning, and the relationship with the nun, oh dear! But all that being said, you mostly know what to expect from a Jason Statham vehicle. There might be just enough ingenuity in the plot to make it worth a view for nothing.

Additional Info: I already reviewed this as “Redemption” but thought I would give it another go. The director is a successful scriptwriter, but it may be another example of limited success if you direct your own stuff.