As Jason Statham clocks in for another shift playing a one-person army, I’m enjoying his European-set films more than his American-set ones. It may feel more natural for him in these stories, but I’m finding a way to draw a line and slide this collection of popcorn flicks into either the B- or C-grade territory. Shelter is nothing special, but thanks to a good supporting co-star, it’s somewhat above some previous entries, including last year’s A Working Man, which fell a bit too paint-by-numbers for me.
In Shelter, we see Statham play a man living a reclusive life with his dog on an island. The film spends way too long building layers of twists to explain his backstory, but the short version is that he’s in hiding from MI6 because of a decision he made some ten years prior. But when the boat of the man and his niece that delivers him food capsizes, he’s left looking after the girl, and soon, MI6 discovers his whereabouts, and he’s on the run looking for a way to get her an escape route and out of the eyes of those who are after him.
Jessie is the young girl he saves, and she’s the special factor in Shelter, making it more interesting than it would be if this were just Statham on the run. The performance from Bodhi Rae Breathnach is the heart of the film; even at times, it seems like she’s been directed to play the emotions a bit too loud to cover for Statham, who is lying on the stoic, tough, good-as-thick After seeing Bodhi Rae Breathnach in Hamnet just a couple of weeks prior, I am now very impressed with her, as she’s been great in both of these, very different films.
The action is directed with frenetic motion by Ric Roman Waugh; there’s a lot of hand-to-hand combat between Statham and Bryan Vigier, getting to showcase his skills here as he looks to transition out of being a stunt performer.
A car chase scene in the countryside nearly makes for a highlight of the film, though the choice not to ever pull the camera too far from the action inside and right beside the cars leaves it feeling a bit too shaky and aggressive on shaky cam. It is moments like this, however, which follow a small scene where our two leads attempt to steal a car from a farm home, that help separate the location and action from some of the other recent Statham action films, and maybe why, as I said in my opening paragraph, I did enjoy this one more than I would have otherwise.
Appearances from Bill Nighy and Naomi Ackie as two MI6 heads don’t give much to do, but I was more disappointed to see someone like Tom Wu show up and get nothing to do with his two minutes of screentime.
