Starring: Jason Statham, Catherine Chan, and Chris Sarandon
This weekend really is the preamble to the summer blockbuster season. With Marvel's The Avengersnext weekend, it seems almost pointless to go to the movies right now. Almost. Having seen action star Jason Statham's latest flick Safe, I can easily say that this movie might be worth stepping out to the box office one last time before the Marvel superheroes assemble next week.
Former NYPD police officer Luke Wright (Jason Statham) has fallen far from grace. Atoning for his sins, he decides to compete in MMA matches. When he doesn't throw a cage match to some Internet sensation as planned, he costs a lot of people a lot of money. The Russian mob then gets involved and kills his wife Annie. They don't kill him however. They just warn him that they'll kill anyone connected to him. Any friends or family will be taken out. Even the cleaning lady for Luke's apartment complex is fair game. With this in mind, Luke wanders the streets of New York on the verge of suicide.
Meanwhile, a young Chinese girl named Mei (Catherine Chan) has a special gift. She can retain lots of information and has a photographic memory. When crime boss Han Jiao (James Hong) learns of her ability, he quickly recruits Mei and ships her off to the US to help manage the finances for his stateside operations. Months later, he comes to meet her in New York and gives her a long, very important number to remember. While Han's men are taking her to memorize another number, the Russians kidnap Mei and try to extract the information. She somehow manages to escape and ends up running into Luke Wright.
Seeing her as an innocent girl on the run, Wright decides to protect Mei from both the Russians and the Chinese, but his own past quickly begins to catch up with them. Soon, the police get involved, and a four-way bloodbath ensues in the streets of New York City between the Chinese, the Russians, the cops, and Luke.
Safe is a decent action flick that really is the best you can expect from a Jason Statham movie. It's funny. It's action-packed. It's full of halfway cheesy one-liners. What matters most is that Statham kicks ass, and he does it with style. There are plenty of sick action sequences with some insane stunts and bullets flying everywhere. In the vicious world director Boaz Yakin has created, corruption and guns rule the streets. That’s all you need in a good action movie.
My only gripe with the film is that there are just some things that are completely unrealistic and unbelievable. When Statham's Luke is hopping around a moving subway train like it's a jungle gym, I couldn't help but question it. I can forgive it though. Overall, Safe is thoroughly entertaining and gets a 0.06% rating. Have a few rounds of beer with this one.
