Shelter review: Average Jason Statham fodder
When Jason Statham leads a movie, you generally know what kind of movie you’re going to get. And Shelter does exactly what you’d expect, but not as effectively as some of his other action outings.
In Ric Roman Waugh‘s film, Statham plays a former assassin who has lived a reclusive existence on a remote Scottish island for many years. One day, his past life catches up with him when he rescues a young girl named Jesse (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) from the sea in a storm. His former employers order his assassination and he must evade his killers and keep Jesse safe.
Going into the film completely cold, I expected Shelter to be a mindless action movie and a light-hearted romp, but it’s neither of those things. It’s more of a serious drama/thriller with action scenes and an emotional core. It revolves around the ever-growing bond between Mason and Jesse and his need to protect her at all costs. At first, there is no bond at all and he seems to resent the burden of having a young girl with him during the situation he’s been bracing himself for (it certainly makes his job a lot harder) but they gradually care more and more about each other. This evolution in their dynamic was my favourite aspect of the film.
One of its biggest problems is that the first third is so damn slow. After Mason saves Jesse, he nurses her back to health in his remote cottage and we spend so much time on that. I understand that Waugh wanted to build the foundation of this central relationship and show them slowly trusting each other more, but it didn’t need to be so long. When you’re watching a Statham movie, you shouldn’t have to wait this long to get to the good stuff.
Statham has made his name kicking ass and doing as many of his own stunts as possible so you know you’re in a safe pair of hands when it comes to the action sequences. He is reliably excellent and there are some inventive moves and cool moments but they are sometimes hard to follow. They don’t live up to what we’ve seen from him before, and when lined up against all of Statham’s action scenes, they feel pretty average.
Breathnach is really sweet and Jesse is more mature and useful than Mason expects her to be. Their bond is lovely to watch and it’s fun seeing her help out when she can. There are a lot of big-name supporting stars in this, such as Bill Nighy as a MI6 boss, Naomi Ackie as his subordinate in charge of the operation and Daniel Mays as Mason’s old friend. Out of them, Nighy has the most unexpected and interesting role, but to say more would be spoilers.
I don’t generally assign gender to films but my male friend liked this far more than I did, so perhaps it’ll be more of a hit with men. I could appreciate the concept, the central relationship and some of the action, but it’s too long and serious and nowhere near entertaining enough.
In cinemas from Friday 30th January