As soon as the trailer for Jason Statham’s newest beat’em up, Safe, popped up online, complete with skull cracking and guns blazing over the fate of blank-faced young asian girl, I knew exactly what to expect: Transporter 4.
Imagine my surprise when I got a little more than that.
Slightly underrated screenwriter/director Boaz Yakin, delivers standard-issue Statham in a simple package with Safe but manages to weave in enough, relatively, subtle humor and relentless energy to push this entry in the Statham oeuvre just below Snatch or The Bank Job. Now, I admit to some hyperbole there because Statham’s been making the same movie, and playing the same mumble-mouthed smart guy, for more than a decade, so anything slightly different will stand out. In terms of narrative, Safe is no more unique than Transporters 1-16, following Statham as a suicidal homeless ex-cage fighter with a shadowy past out to protect an possibly autistic young girl (Catherine Chen) who holds a secret that puts her dead in the sights of Russian Gangsters, Chinese Triads, and dirty NYPD cops.
From the opening frames, Yakin makes it clear that Safe belongs to Chen’s Mei as much as it does to Statham’s cagey Luke Wright by energetically splicing the moments that lead each character to their fateful meeting. Yakin shows a great hand at visual shorthand and abbreviated storytelling with the opening; while he rarely comes close to that level of achievement later in the flick, he at least keeps the pace snappy thanks to an steady barrage of unblinkingly violent set pieces. Safe easily qualifies for one of the highest body counts ever in a Statham vehicle. In the roughly 24-48 hour span of the narrative, at least 100 unfortunate souls fall to abrupt demises at the end of a bullet to the head or a boot to the skull, and it is pretty damn wonderful. Granted, Safe may not match the sheer carnage and near-genocide of Spring’s uncrowned action champ, The Raid: Redemption, but it makes a solid run at the crown.
Amidst the the overblown orgy of bullet battles and fisticuffs, Safe manages to pause for some quirky moments of levity that, thankfully, never hinge on Chen overplaying her cuteness, which would be pretty difficult considering her grounded, non-Disney soldier appearance. Much of the humor in Safe comes from Statham’s sly digs at his outmatched opponents and simple interactions between Luke and Mei. Yakin wisely avoids overemphasizing the humor and opts to let the chronological and cultural disconnect between Luke and Mei speak for itself. By taking the road less traveled, Yakin actually manages to wring more honest laughs out of Safe than one would expect.
Between the humor and the devastation, Safe proves to be far more fun than it should be, no thanks to some one-note performances and wretched dialogue. Statham performs to expectation in a role he could sleepwalk through by now, yet Chen manages to give Mei an apt balance of melancholy, arrogance, and spite, which seems about right considering she was stolen from her home and forced into a life of crime. While Statham and Chen anchor Safe, they receive some fairly one-dimensional support from veteran character actors Robert John Burke, James Hong, and Reggie Lee, all playing variations of stereotypical heavies whose desire for self-preservation far outweighs their common sense. Chris Sarandon shows up midway through to bring some fire to the proceedings as the besieged and duplicitous Mayor whose method of keeping the Big Apple safe had little to do with Broken Window Theory. Also on hand is Anson Mount, the poor soul who was dragged into the circle of hell known as Crossroads, in a intriguing but underdeveloped role as as the Mayor’s right hand. As one-dimensional as the performances are, they’ve got nothing on the generally sterile, expository dialogue that sounds more like Saturday morning villainy than anything remotely realistic.
Crappy dialogue and one-note performances notwithstanding, Safe is solid, overblown, fast-paced fun (your welcome for the pull quote). Sure its typical Statham, but at least this time there’s a litany of bodies, a smidge of heart, and a touch levity to break the routine and create a much better flick than one would anticipate based on the trailer.
Yin: Fast-paced, relentlessly violent, subtly humorous take on typical Statham actioner. Chen shows solid chops, and avoids the cute kid trap, while Statham cracks skulls with aplomb.
Yang: Laughable dialogue and one-note supporting performances hamper a generally enjoyable experience.
In-Between: Nuts+Pole=Wince
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