Safe

As Jason Statham’s name pops up on the screen the audience already has a preconceived notion about what the film would be like. A well-renowned star of the movie industry with well-known movies such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch and Transport series; Statham has managed to stay to his true self in the action genre. But this time he could have fine the film, Safe, an action with an abstract overdose to it. Safe simply appears to be a modern reenactment of Statham’s films as they all tend to have careless plotlines with a plethora of injury elements.

In Safe, Statham portrays the role of an ex-cop who just got involved in the underground rigged fights culture of a city after taking Gina Wright who worked exclusively with the mayor (Chris Sarandon) of NYPD. The growing corruption becomes overwhelming later prompting him to make the said decision, however, it is made clear that the underground culture helps him vent out his frustration over the repeated action he has to carry.

The Russian Mob comes into play and murders his entire family over a dispute. Determined to take revenge, he tracks down the perpetrators who tortured Mei, an 11-year-old Chinese girl. As much as Statham plays the caring protector of Mei, the storyline primarily revolves around their strengthening bond.

Though there are many gaps that the audience would have over Jason Stathom’s character for instance, the viewer has no insight into why Jason is strongly acting against his wife which makes it truly complicated to forge a connection or emotion with the narrative. This results in the movie ending on a very mundane note with no life or action.

Mei is portrayed well and is even thankfully provided with a graph. She does look like a kid in rags who is in a difficult situation but learns much faster than she can speak. The tempo of the movie becomes a problem mostly because the director Boaz Yakin has chosen to rely on quick cuts for much of the movie. There was no time to make sense of anything and suddenly someone was beating someone up.

Safe started out looking interesting for the first couple of minutes. The movie’s visual aspects had a rough thematic quality and I was ready to see a gripping thriller. Statham completely dominates every other element in the film (apart from looking more than a bit like Bruce Willis, so the bar is already set high) and still, it leaves you wanting to watch the rest of the movie.

The film could have incorporated a back-story related to Statham’s character with his wife or the relationship of New York’s crime scene with the hold of Russian Mafia which could have added great depth to the film. There are just too many could haves that mar the entire experience of viewing of Safe. Watch it only if you are a ‘Jason Statham fan.

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