Jason Statham Nearly Died Making The Expendables 3

Here's one of those wild instances where real-life action nearly upstaged anything in the movie. Jason Statham, who pretty much has a side hustle as the world's most durable action figure, actually had a close call filming The Expendables 3—and most people barely know it happened.

Jason Statham Almost Didn't Make It to the Next Sequel

Let's set the scene: It was 2013. The crew is set up for a major stunt on The Expendables 3, and Statham is behind the wheel of a gigantic three-ton flatbed truck. Plan A? Floor it, hit the brakes hard, look cool for the cameras. What actually happened? The brakes just... didn't do their job. The truck shot clean off the dock and straight into the Black Sea. Not to get overly dramatic, but for most people, a truck sinking into the water at high speed means game over.

But this is Jason Statham. Turns out, before he became famous for beating up bad guys on screen, he was an actual professional diver for England. So what could have been a grim headline became another day at work: he found a barely open window, got himself unhooked from a gun holster that could've snagged him for good, and swam back to safety. After the crew made sure he was okay (and not, you know, secretly traumatized), he dried off, changed, and went right back to work. He literally shot the scene again like nothing major had happened. That's a level of professionalism—and maybe stubbornness—you really only find in the old-school action heroes.

"He managed to climb out of a slightly open window, unsnag his caught pistol holster, and swim to the surface."

This Movie Deserves a Little More Credit

Look, people love to dunk on the Expendables sequels—sometimes for good reason. By the time The Expendables 4 (or Expend4bles, which, let's face it, is a terrible title) rolled around, most of us had lowered our expectations all the way through the floor. That said, The Expendables 3 actually deserves more respect than the 32% Rotten Tomatoes score it's been saddled with.

No, it's not a mind-blowing masterpiece, but this movie still gives you exactly what you're after: a pile of goofy, musclebound spectacle and big action moments. Want to see Wesley Snipes hurl knives? Done. Curious how UFC's Randy Couture will fit in? He's there, too. All the necessary over-the-top energy is present and accounted for.

Statham Steals the Show (Again)

At this point, The Expendables is technically Sylvester Stallone's franchise—he started it, after all—but Jason Statham’s Lee Christmas is the real MVP. Even when the movies fall apart around him (looking at you, part 4), Statham keeps the action-watchable gene intact. The near-fatal truck stunt he pulled off in The Expendables 3? Yep, it’s one of the movie’s actual highlights. Also, don’t sleep on that blade fight between Statham and Wesley Snipes; for my money, it’s easily one of the franchise’s cheesiest but most entertaining moments.

The Expendables 3: Who's Who

• Sylvester Stallone as Barney Ross (the obvious head honcho)
• Jason Statham as Lee Christmas (the guy who practically has plot armor, both on and off-screen)
• Wesley Snipes as Doc (knife enthusiast, unstoppable energy)
• Randy Couture as Toll Road
• Loads of other action legends pop up and blow things up, as tradition dictates

Bottom line: The Expendables 3 isn't a perfect film—it was never trying to be. But between the wild stories from behind the scenes and the non-stop parade of action stars, it's got way more going for it than the internet gives it credit for. And if you have to pick a real action hero out of the lineup? Hard to argue against Jason Statham actually surviving one of the biggest stunts of his career (off-camera, no less) and then just getting right back to it.