Safe (***)
Directed
by: Boaz Yakin
Starring:
Jason Statham, Chris Sarandon, Robert John Burke, James Hong, Catherine Chan,
Reggie Lee
Seen:
August 21st 2012
*** Out
of ****
Jason
Statham has successfully created his own genre. All his movies are relatively
entertaining if you’re looking for a Jason Statham movie, and while most of
them are average to somewhat above average movies, none of them are going to
win any awards. Safe is another middle-of-the-road Statham movie in which he
takes on astronomical odds, fights legions of bad guys from different factions,
and shoots plenty of bad guys – a standard Statham movie then.
Luke
Wright (Statham) is an ex-cop currently making a living in the cage-fighting
arena. When he wins a fixed fight that he shouldn’t have, he’s pitilessly
punished by the Russian mafia; they kill his pregnant wife and threaten to kill
anyone he ever comes close to. So Luke abandons his life and lives on the
streets. On the other side of the planet, in China, Triad boss Han (Hong)
kidnaps a 12 year-old girl, Mei (Chan), for her prowess as a math genius. Han
plans on using Mei’s perfect memory as information courier rather than taking
his chances in leaving a digital footprint of his criminal dealings. In the
USA, an imprisoned Mei awaits Han’s orders while in the “care” of Quan (Lee).
Han has Mei memorize a very long number – which she is to courier below the
radar, and almost immediately their car is ambushed and the Russian mafia take
Mei but before they can attempt to get the number from her they are interrupted
by corrupt police in Han’s employ. Mei escapes and runs away, and in a Subway
station Luke is sitting contemplating suicide when he sees her hiding from the
men who killed his wife, which immediately puts Luke in defender mode – the
driving force for the rest of the movie, as Luke must stay one step ahead of
everyone to firstly convince Mei of his good intentions for her and secondly
keep Mei alive and out of the hands of everyone chasing after the number.
Jason
Statham movies regularly feature interesting or inventive action setups, and
Safe follows in that tradition, as Luke goes about beating and shooting
everyone out of his way as he uncovers the entire truth behind the numbers and
the motivations behind the actions of everyone else. Jason Statham is himself
in devastating mode, and every other actor in the movie is, with varying
degrees of adequateness, there to advance the plot and keep things moving
towards the next fight/shootout with anyone who opposes Luke and Mei, which is
pretty much anyone else in the movie. While brutal, the action in Safe is
effective and immersive without being hampered by the use of a shaky-cam.
The
movie is never boring nor bad, and Jason Statham playing the same role he
almost always plays is usually pretty entertaining – the man does what he does
best, and he does it pretty good. While lovers of refined cinema should steer
clear of Safe, Statham fans will get exactly what they’re looking for – a rollicking
action movie that keeps you in the action without skipping a beat.
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