SHELTER: 3 STARS. “here’s something reassuring about the actor’s consistency.”
SYNOPSIS: In “Shelter” Jason Statham plays Statham Character #2. That’s the “loner with a past who must protect a youthful innocent.” (As opposed to Statham Character #1 in which he plays “a loner with a past who must protect a loved one.”)
CAST: Jason Statham, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Bill Nighy, Naomi Ackie, Daniel Mays. Directed by Ric Roman Waugh.
REVIEW: Whenever I watch a Jason Statham film, I imagine that somewhere in Hollywood there is a small, organized office with two employees called the Déjà Vu Department, whose sole job it is to oversee the writing of Jason Statham scripts.
Statham has made a career of repeatedly making the same movie. They are not sequels— locations, character names and situations change—but in their mix of formula and form, they are remarkably similar.
In his new film “Shelter,” instead of a beekeeper with the past (à la “The Beekeeper”) he’s a lighthouse keeper with a past (see: “Homefront,” “Mechanic: Resurrection” and many others) who rescues a young innocent woman (as he did in: “Transporter 2,” “Safe” and others) by switching to one man army mode (see: “Wrath of Man,” “A Working Man,” “The Mechanic” and too many others to mention here).
So, to say “Shelter” doesn’t reinvent the wheel is like saying that Statham’s signature character is handy with his fists.
Still, despite the echoes of past movies that reverberate throughout the movie, “Shelter,” like Statham’s other films, is entertaining. It’s a by-the-Statham-book story but, for fans, his take on a character who says, “People like me don’t get to live normal lives,” is comfort food. Like meatloaf or a hot soup on a cold day, there’s something reassuring about the actor’s consistency. In a constantly changing world, where everything is disrupted, there is something appealing about knowing exactly what you’re going to get when you buy a ticket to one of his movies.
They are as cozy and reassuring as a movie with a body count in the dozens can be.
Add to that a talented teen sidekick in the form of Bodhi Rae Breathnach—even though most of her role consists of being told to, “Sit here. Don’t move.”—and Oscar nominee Bill Nighy to class up the joint, and you’re left with another entertaining, if forgettable, action film from Statham’s Déjà Vu Department.
Near the film’s climax young innocent Jessie (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) laments that with the bad guys after him Michael (Statham) won’t be able to return to the refuge of his isolated island.
“There’s always another island,” he replies. And for Statham, there’s always another film.
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