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.
Posts
