Safe Review

Rated R (Strong Violence Throughout, and for Language)

Running Time: 1 Hour & 34 Minutes

Cast-

Jason Statham-Luke Wright

Catherine Chan-Mei

Robert John Burke-Captain Wolf

James Hong-Han Jiao

Reggie Lee-Quan Chang

Anson Mount-Alex Rosen

Chris Sarandon-Mayor Tremello

Sándor Técsy-Emile Docheski

Joseph Sikora-Vassily Docheski

James Colby-Detective Mears

Matt O'Toole-Detective Lasky

Jack Gwaltney-Detective Reddick

Barry Bradford-Detective Benoit

Jay Giannone-Detective Kolfax

Igor Jijikine-Chemyakin

Directed by Boaz Yakin

Jason Statham prepares to blow your brains away in "Safe."

The larger-than-life personalities of actors Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Bruce Willis dominated the action films of the 1970’s, 1980’s, and early 1990’s but have now been replaced with mindless orgies of CG violence epitomized by director Michael Bay and his contemporaries. Their acting skills may have been lacking at times but those three have starred in numerous films that are now widely regarded as classics such as 1991’s “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” 1976’s “Rocky,” and 1988’s “Die Hard.” Nowadays, we have Jason Statham, who has proved to be a capable actor in his own right but I still wonder what possessed him to work with infamous director Uwe Boll *insert obligatory snicker here* in 2006’s “In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale,” which grossed a paltry $13 million worldwide against a $60 million production budget and has a 4% on Rotten Tomatoes. Boll has never let something like that discourage him and went straight to work on a sequel, titled “In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds” starring Dolph Lundgren and Natassia Malthe. Statham made his film debut in 1998 with Guy Ritchie’s “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and has starred in close to thirty films but he is best known for his action movies such as “The Transporter” and “Crank” series. Many of his action films end up blending together and fail to differentiate from one another, a fault that “Safe” continues to share. The action may be brutally satisfying and Jason Statham continues to be a compelling modern action star but that’s about all “Safe” offers with its overly-convoluted, clichéd story and stereotypical characters. 

Luke Wright (Jason Statham) is a former New York City police detective who found his career in shambles when he discovered that his fellow officers were corrupt and reported them to Internal Affairs. He became an underground cage fighter but runs afoul of the Russian mob when he refuses to throw a fight as expected. The Russians kill Luke’s pregnant wife but leave him alive, promising that he will be watched every second of every day and that anyone who gets close to him will be killed (sounds like it requires a lot of manpower). His life destroyed, Luke becomes a homeless drifter and contemplates suicide. Meanwhile, a twelve-year-old girl named Mei (Catherine Chan) is snatched off the street in China by men who work for Triads leader Han Jiao (James Hong). She is forced to help manage his illegal finances in New York City due to her being a gifted math prodigy with eidetic memory. Looked after by Han’s right-hand man Quan Chang (Reggie Lee), Mei is asked by Han to memorize a set of random numbers but before anything can be done with them, she is kidnapped by members of the Russian mob led by Emile Docheski (Sándor Técsy). Emile threatens Mei with violence and demands her to write down the numbers but she manages to slip away when police officers arrive on the scene due to complaints of a disturbance. Mei hides from the Russian mob in a subway station where she makes eye contact with Luke, who was planning on jumping onto the tracks to end his life. He sees the men following her and recognizes one of them as the murderer of his pregnant wife. Luke chases after them and brutally beats them to death in order to protect Mei. The two form an unlikely duo as the Russian mob, the Triads, and the corrupt New York City police force led by Captain Wolf (Robert John Burke) all converge on him with guns blazing in an attempt to steal the numbers, which happens to be a combination to a very important safe containing sensitive information. 

“Safe” is something of a throwback to the old-school action films of the 1970’s and contains shades of Charles Bronson mixed with a dash of Luc Besson’s “Léon: The Professional,” who ironically served as producer for Statham’s “Transporter” series. The title is also ironic as “Safe” ultimately plays it too safe, offering up a healthy dose of well-choreographed and brutally satisfying action scenes but little else of anything noteworthy. Boaz Yakin does double duty as writer and director but his story is an absolute mess that is too convoluted for its own good and makes little to no logical sense 90% of the time despite its straightforward premise, which is already on shaky ground since no explicit reason is given as to why Luke decides to protect Mei. Does she remind him of someone? They share one look and that’s apparently enough! Consider this: after efficiently dispatching a group of Russians on the ‘D’ train in full view of the passengers, Luke walks up to Mei to ask if she is all right but none of the passengers do anything to stop him even though he pulled a gun. Surely someone would be smart enough to pull the emergency break and alert the train conductor instead rushing out of the doors at the next stop screaming and yelling. Those signs aren’t simply for decoration, people! New York City (my hometown) is depicted in total anarchy as gang members engage in shootouts with the police with no thought to collateral damage. You would think that even the corrupt mayor (Chris Sarandon) would issue some sort of curfew or state of emergency for appearances’ sake rather than let his city turn into a chaotic warzone. Even Mei knows it’s bad for business…and she’s twelve! Unfortunately, most of the characters are not so much smart but simplistic stereotypes that border on being cartoonish. The film also suffers from some uneven pacing as the first thirty minutes rushes to setup all the players by continuously jumping between Luke and Mei. Still, some of the scenes in the beginning allow for Statham to show some measure of depth but “Safe” is ultimately all about the action. Fans of Statham and action junkies will walk away immensely satisfied as the last hour is one fight scene after another as Luke breaks every bone and shoots anyone that stands in his way. However, all of this is something we’ve seen countless times before in other action films and even Statham’s previous work. “Safe” is never a boring film but a good (or at least decent) writer could’ve went a long way in fixing the script’s numerous deficiencies. 

Jason Statham can act but for some indiscernible reason, he chooses to play the same gruff character over and over again in one disposable action movie after another. He seems to enjoy these types of roles and it earns him a consistent living but it would be nice to see him step outside his comfort zone once in awhile. Statham carries the entire film and is able to make every cringe-inducing one-liner work with his natural on-screen charisma. He just has a certain look about him that makes even his worst films somehow watchable. Catherine Chan shares a good rapport with Statham and it’s great to see a child character who understands the realities of her grim situation rather than coast by on precociousness. A number of recognizable faces pop up as supporting characters including James Hong, Reggie Lee, Robert John Burke, Chris Sarandon, and Anson Mount but none of them make much of an impression other than just popping up to get their daily beat-downs from Statham. It doesn’t help that their characters are nothing but broad stereotypes lifted from every gang film ever made. 

Released on April 27, 2012, “Safe” has received mixed reviews with 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics found it ‘hard-hitting and violently inventive, [but] ultimately proves too formulaic to set itself apart from the action thriller pack—including some of [Statham’s] better films.’ Unfortunately, the timing couldn’t be any worse as the film was released one week before the highly anticipated “The Avengers” and grossed a disappointing $7.9 million during opening weekend, coming in sixth place. It looks like it’ll struggle to make back its modest $27 million production budget given the avalanche of summer films to come. Audience attendance was sparse but that was to be expected given that it was a Monday, although I could do without the snoring patron sitting in front of me. I continue to find it puzzling that people would pay $6 to $13 and sleep in the movie theater when they can do that at home…but I digress. “Safe” is like any other Jason Statham film, balls-to-the-wall action but little in the way of story and character. While certainly never boring, Statham can do better than this and it’s a shame to see his talents continuously wasted on such disposable fare. Action junkies will love “Safe” but it’s best to leave this one as a rental for everyone else.

Final Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Mayor Tremello: You've got some balls, Luke.

Luke Wright: Yeah, it’s amazing I can even walk.