Safe
Review by Anthony Morris
Mei (Catherine Chan) is a Chinese schoolgirl who
happens to be a math genius.
So of course the triads kidnap her and send her to
New York to be their living crime computer.
Given a mysterious and amazingly long number to
memorize, she promptly becomes a target for the Russian mob, only to
escape their clutches and fall into the grasp of a mysterious
drifter.
Fortunately, that drifter is action star Jason
Statham, out on the streets after the mob killed his wife and told him
they’d do the same to anyone he got close to; much arse-kicking
follows.
Despite the superficial silliness and action
clichés (Statham’s drifter turns out to have been more than just a
garbageman-slash-boxer in his past), this develops into a slightly
gritter (and bloodier) than usual outing for Statham.
Director Boaz Yakin gives the violence a lean
efficiency that makes the numerous over-the-top moments seem at least
slightly plausible for an action movie, while the authentic New York
setting ads another layer of much-needed reality to a story that
constantly threatens to collapse under its own weight.
It’s trendy to dismiss this kind of action
thriller as yesterday’s film, but there’s a honesty to its blunt
delivery of violence that is lacking in today’s big budget blockbusters
where everything explodes but no-one who counts gets hurt.
It’s trashy action mostly done right, even if
Statham’s wandering accent (maybe he’s trying to sound American… it’s
hard to tell) is an inadvertent comedy highlight.
3.5 out
of 5
Safe
Australian release: 10th May,
2012
Official
Site: Safe
Cast: Jason Statham, Anson
Mount, Chris Sarandon, James Hong, Reggie Lee, Robert John Burke
Director: Boaz Yakin
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