Once someone see Jason Statham's name and face on the promotional materials, they will immediately think Hummingbird is another action film where the star runs around the city fighting bad guys. If you came expecting it to be like The Transporter or any typical Statham feature, it would be either disappointing or otherwise surprising. The plot is more of a Neo-Noir drama about a man who lives in the rotten side of society and faces real consequences. The film is unbalanced in handling two of its tones, but the context hits the right note in the end. Hummingbird has a better way to tell the story but it's already a fascinating film to watch.
The story is obviously about redemption, and as a Statham film it should have fistfights to show his enemies who's boss. But instead his character here troubles facing his demons and has to commit crimes to get what he needs. It's a much interesting story about people who have to deal with the unfair reality and beat it off with their skills. It surely has punching but they are used for torture rather than exciting action set pieces, though they may still remind you of a standard action film. The film suffers of balancing between tones. Example is the opening feels totally different from the rest of the movie. It looks like a complete thriller until it randomly jumps to art-house crime drama. Probably, it's a set up for the ones who came for the action by the main actor's existence in the film, but it goes again whenever Joey beats up someone for his job. Maybe the problem is these scenes are not grim enough. They should have shown an uglier depiction of violence.
The best parts are when it simply keeps the characters into their gloomy lives. Letting everyone understand the protagonist's motivation of being a Robin Hood. Jason Statham didn't standout much. His fighting is still impressive, though our familiarity to his moves kind of glosses the scenes that are supposed to be uneasy to watch, but his natural film personality buys the character, giving awareness to the choices he make and guilt he receives. The real talent that shines here is Agata Buzek, who genuinely presents her character's contrasting traits.
Hummingbird is a strange film with a classic kind of story, but it's the sort of strange that is rarely seen in cinema today. It's sort of hard to find the right type of audience to get appealed to this. It was all drama, then suddenly has fighting scenes that are supposed to be dark yet becomes the other way around. In other parts, it has an engaging exploration of the characters' bleak little world. The filmmaking is as magnificent as it needs and the performances are quite gripping. It still deserves a better portrayal of its conflicts and a set of tones that could decently fit together. In the end, it's a worth seeing change from the genre and the main actor.
