Safe Review

30th Apr 2012

A young Chinese girl is taken away from her family and used as a number cruncher (she has the ability to look at numbers and do all sorts of crazy math with them) in the United States. But when a special number perks the interest of Russian rivals and corrupt police a hunt for the girl is soon underway. This is until she runs into Luke Wright (an ex-garbage man/ fist fighter with a past of his own). The two together formulate one of those plans that is gonna cause a lot of important people a lot of money and a lot of pain.

Now Writer/Director Boaz Yakin may be known for a couple of more recent efforts, but cast your mind back to 1989 and he was the young screenwriter responsible for the Dolph Lundgren Punisher script.

This may sound like a shot at his credibility – but to be quite honest it is a compliment. That film itself has always been highly underrated and Safe if anything is a bit of a cousin to that screenplay. There are various types of ethnic gangsters interested in control and money, there are underground casinos, there are children put in harm’s way and an ex cop at the centre of proceedings kicking seven shades of shit out of most people in his way!

Safe is like the updated version of that earlier film. It is more up to the date, it feels fresh in its execution, and impressively it spins many action movie tropes on their head.

This may feel like a Jason Statham movie, and to be honest it is a Jason Statham movie, but it’s a Statham movie that has been tweaked to surpass expectations and surprise you along the way. In an early scene right after his character has found his wife freshly murdered by a Russian mob – he finds himself in a room circled by armed goons, keen to mouth off at his expense. Normally in this situation the Stath would look left and right and then proceed to knock ten bells out of each member of the gang. Instead we get something all the more daring and impressive for both the film’s identity and Statham’s acting ability.

It’s these little moments that they chose to go left instead of right that makes Safe stand out from the usual crap we find Britain’s hardest action hero in (yes you The Mechanic). Yakin has also gone to the trouble of thinking about his shots and his edit of the film.

Safe takes a while to get going as there is a background to serve as well as a multitude of supporting characters. Once the action is unleashed it is hard to restrain it. Yakin has shot the film in such a way (keeping the camera often close to the contenders) that the action has more impact and looks fresh to the eye instead of something you have seen a dozen times. It is very well paced in a way that involves your attention more than just let’s you kick back and laugh at the onscreen antics.

The cast are largely very good considering the time spent on them. Yes some of the corrupt cops and foreign mafia types are what you might expect – but if anything it’s nice to see James Hong in more than just a cameo role for a change. Statham is still working on his generic American accent, but when you kick arse this well there is only so far you can criticise the guy. He gets an ace in the hole every other year and this is certainly one that counts.