Jason Statham is a classic action hero. He’s England’s answer to Bruce Willis with less conversation and more muscle – like a combination of James Bond and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. He’s got the British accent and can deliver an intelligent quip with savoir faire. Yet he still looks capable of handling himself like Jackie Chan. Safe is his current vehicle and once again it’s a serviceable thriller in the style of The Transporter. It certainly doesn’t push the boundaries of the genre, but you know exactly what to expect and you get what you pay for.
This time around he plays a mixed martial arts fighter who accidentally wins a fixed match he was supposed to lose. He has now incurred the anger of both the Russian Mafia and the crooked cops that bet against him. With his life at its lowest point, he’s just about to commit suicide. At that moment he witnesses a frightened 12 year old Chinese girl being pursued by the very same Russian monsters who killed his family in retaliation. This sets a sequence of events in motion that will involve all the aforementioned groups as well as the Triads and high-level corrupt New York City politicians.
Safe is a movie where nothing is safe, including logic and reason, but damn if it isn’t fun. This is a lively film that seeks to entertain and that’s about it. Jason Statham is an effective tough guy and he’s quick with the clever wisecrack. He’s the obvious heir apparent to Arnold as king of the witty one liner. “Don’t lose sleep. He had it coming,” he tells a trainload of subway passengers after shooting a guy dead at point blank range. I must admit I also enjoyed seeing veteran actor James Hong as the head of the Chinese mafia. You may not recognize the name, but you definitely have seen him in something. He’s done a bazillion movies but probably best known for playing Lo Pan, the ancient sorcerer in Big Trouble in Little China. The fight scenes in Safe are kind of de rigueur for this sort of thing. They never really rise above the graphics of a good video game, but Jason Statham has plenty of charisma to keep things gripping. There’s enough creative twists and turns to elevate Jason Statham’s latest opus into a worthwhile diversion.
Fast Film Reviews 
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