After a former elite agent rescues a 12-year-old Chinese girl who's been abducted, they find themselves in the middle of a standoff between Triads, the Russian Mafia and high-level corrupt New York...
Safe can’t quite translate the correct combination for unlocking action extravagance. Jason Statham is, once again, Jason Statham. No longer is he cranked up from high voltage energy. Nor is he transporting people to their existential destination. Heck, he’s not even a mid-end cockney gangster. He is now, a homeless tramp. After losing his wife to the Russian mafia, ex-cop and cage fighter Luke leaves his life behind. Protecting those he deeply cares for by not conversing with them ever again. Luke, contemplating suicide at a subway station, recognises one of his wife’s killers attempting to locate a young Chinese mathematical prodigy, named Mei, whom is exuding substantial distress. In typical Statham style, the brutish men are throat punched, head snapped and shot at, as Luke rescues Mei and investigates the reasoning behind her sudden desirability by the Triads, Russians and corrupt NYPD. Essentially keeping her, and say it with me now, safe.
Yakin’s lean action thriller can be best described as functional. All of the typical well-choreographed punches, kicks and cranium slams one would find in a Statham flick, still apply here. Breaking a henchman’s trachea with a hotel plate (Oof!). Confidently slapping a man with a pistol (major Oof!). Surviving a four-story fall by landing on a person (Eh?). The usual shenanigans. Fortunately the action sequences are well-executed with minimal quick cuts, extensive long takes and distance between the actors and camera, thanks to Yakin’s productive direction. Every bullet through the head or “judo chop” to the Adam’s apple were accentuated by robust sound effects that tightened the action as a whole. Statham, aside from the wobbly American accent every other scene, is monotonous as ever (no complaints here!) yet briefly shows some vulnerability and fragility to his character through sparse unsentimental dialogue.
The problem is, and this applies to most of his action films, it’s more predictable than reciting various bank account numbers and rather simple-minded in general. The Triads exploit Mei’s mental calculative mind to memorise two “long and boring” strings of numbers (consisting of well over two-hundred digits each) which she apparently memorises in a second. Eidetic memory or not, that’s borderline impossible and a ludicrous exaggeration to highlight her talents. But that’s not the issue here. She is kidnapped to essentially replace the Triads’ traceable digital footprint, so they teach her the financial workings of New York’s chinatown. Naturally, they intrust all of this valuable information, not on an encrypted device, but a little girl whom is likely to either get kidnapped again, contact an incurable disease or contemplate suicide herself. From a logical standpoint it’s non-sensical, and even more dangerous than not encrypting sensitive data. Mei as a character is reduced to a mere plot device, whom is consequently unable to share any chemistry with any other characters, especially Luke.
The feature then starts shifting the focus on bribing mayoral employees and so forth, losing the tight pace of the first half. Still, it’s a Statham action thriller. By now, you should know what to expect. It’s functional, watchable and occasionally enjoyable. Ignore the scatterbrained plot and stay for the buoyant action.
