Shelter
- 4 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Jason Statham has become one of our most reliable action heroes, turning out one enjoyable popcorn action flick after another. His latest, SHELTER is no exception.
Statham again reminds me of Charles Bronson in the seventies, who delivered a reliable action flick like "The Mechanic" or "Mr Majestyk" every 8 months or so. The difference is that Statham's thrillers have $50 million budgets that deliver grand scale action and thrills on a level Bronson only dreamed about.
This time out, Jason is Michael Mason, a quiet man living a very solitary life in a secluded island in Scotland. We're talking a lighthouse, a tiny home and a boat house (with some pretty cool launch features).
Mason's only contact with the outside world seems to be weekly supply visits from a young girl, Jessie. She routinely drops a large milk crate in front of his weathered door, mostly canned meat and vodka.
Jessie is well played by Bodhi Rae Breathnach (Hamnet).
When a sudden storm plunges Jessie into the sea during one of her supply runs, Mason dives into action and brings her into his home for recovery.
Often in this genre, you are waiting for the quiet parts of the story to end as soon as possible so the action can get started. Its a tribute to Statham, Breathnach and Ward Perry's screenplay that this opening half hour is a solid, dramatic intro to Mason & Jessie. You're already invested in them before the action starts.
When Mason is forced by circumstance to visit a nearby small town for medical supplies that Jessie needs, a local camera captures him and every screen at MI-6 lights up, scrambling a Special Ops team to take him down.
Sounds predictable, but there's a lot more going on here than meets the eye and plenty I'm not going to describe.
The always welcome Bill Nighy (Love Actually, Hot Fuzz) serves up a very slimy operative in senior MI-6 official Manafort, who's known Mason a very long time and is not excited to see him again.
Dame Harriet Walter (Sense and Sensibility, The Crown) is deliciously evil as a Prime Minister with a whole lot of moving pieces on her political chessboard.
Naomi Ackie (Blink Twice) is a blast as Manafort's second in command, who has a mind of her own and a growing suspicion of her bosses.
Bally Gill is terrific as a very lethal assassin, Aziz, who is relentless in his pursuit of Mason and Jessie once they are on the run.
And what a run it is.
The farther that Mason & Jessie get from that island, the faster and bigger the action. A car chase through the countryside ramps up the action quickly and surprised me more than once with the sheer scale of the stunts and the action. Superb stunt work abounds, loved it.
As you might expect, things really pop by the time Mason gets to London.
The finale on and around the Thames is everything you want in a Statham action flick and then some.
Director Ric Roman Waugh (Angel Has Fallen, Kandahar, Greenland) knows how to serve up crowd pleasing action and he's done it again here.
SHELTER also added plenty of political thriller accents that serve it well, giving off "Bourne Identity" vibes in its last half to match the "Shane" and "The Professional" elements it also serves up.
Statham did most of his own stunt work for the film, impressive!
As long as Statham wants to keep turning out films like this one, "The Beekeeper" and "The Working Man", I'll keep turning up. His commitment to the audience shows in the material, elevating a popcorn action flick into something with decidedly more edge than expected.
SHELTER gets a very solid, enjoyable B.
Come for the action, stay for the intrigue.
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