Picture, if you will, Hugh Grant in high pursuit, spraying rounds of bullets out of a fast-moving car. You can't? All right, how about Hugh Grant clad in a bat suit gliding over ... moreGotham, taking on the unpredictable carnage of the Joker? No, not possible? OK, how about Hugh Grant screaming, "This is Sparta!" to a group of overzealous Greek soldiers? Not working for you? No? Maybe times have officially changed.

Not that we're trying to be hard on Mr. Grant. The immensely popular actor and box office attraction of the 1990s is still doing well, still funny, still relevant. But he's just not made from the same cloth as cinema's current crop of U.K. studs, actors who can deliver a mean Shakespearean monologue while punching the lights out of some sorry sucker. Daniel Craig, the blond Bond of "Quantum of Solace," perfectly showcases these qualities -- a classically trained actor and badass action hero.

Though the United Kingdom has boasted decades of angry young men and gritty, kitchen-sink cinema, the region seems to be producing scores of men you don't want to cross on a foggy night. Here are 10 of our favorites.

Starting with...

Jason Statham
This gruff-voiced toughie has lived a life almost as interesting as some of the parts he has played. In his teens, the tough guy joined the British national diving team, finishing 12th at the world championships in 1992. But that was perhaps just a bit too square for the rough-and-tumble Brit, who moved into the street world (allegedly, you never know what is apocryphal in Hollywood) as a black-market salesman (no wonder Guy Ritchie likes him so much). He then became a model, which led him to audition for Ritchie's action quirk fest, "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels." From then on Statham was in demand, appearing in, among other pictures, Ritchie's popular "Snatch," "The One" (with Jet Li), "Mean Machine" (with Vinnie Jones), the incredibly entertaining "Transporter" films, the high-adrenaline "Crank" pictures, and the impressive "The Bank Job." Though "Death Race" (Paul W.S. Anderson's remake of the cult film "Death Race 2000") failed to impress, Statham remains a curious cross between Bruce Willis and Anthony Hopkins, which means we're waiting to see him flex his acting range like those fellas. A Woody Allen movie, perhaps?

Read my entire list here.

--posted by Kim