SAFE marks another step up the career ladder for action star Jason Statham, who also made 2012's above-average KILLER ELITE with Clive Owen and Robert De Niro. SAFE steps away from the teen-friendly hijinks of THE TRANSPORTER and DEATH RACE in favour of a more focused and realistic storyline which sees Statham and his young charge (newcomer Catherine Chan, and very good she is too) on the run in New York from not only the Russian and Chinese mafia but the city's police force, too!
The film works as pure action spectacle, with never a flagging moment. Statham growls and spits his dialogue, headbutts bad guys with abandon, and shoots his way through a small army in his attempts to save Chan from harm. It's a bit like THE MAN FROM NOWHERE, eschewing all that film's careful build-up and painstaking plot progression in favour of more breakneck action bits and scenes of Statham throwing guys through windows.
Statham provides a masterclass in thuggery, while the action, refreshingly free of the shaky-cam for once, is masterful and exciting. There are some nice supporting turns from the likes of DRAG ME TO HELL's Reggie Lee as the bad guys, along with former leading man Robert John Burke (DUST DEVIL) nowadays unrecognisable thanks to the ageing progress.
Of course, SAFE will never win awards, and those who don't "get" action films will give it the cold shoulder. On the other hand, those of us who remember the good old days when Van Damme and Seagal were churning out hit after hit will probably enjoy it.
