By Geno McGahee
I really had zero expectations for this movie. I have been unimpressed by the overall film body of work by Jason Statham. I do not like the TRANSPORTER movies or the CRANK movies. I did sort of like BLITZ and THE BANK JOB wasn’t too bad, but I never saw him as the action star that everyone else seemed to think he was. He has all of the elements to fit the bill, but it just didn’t seem like it was there, until I saw SAFE.
Luke Wright (Statham) is a former cop turned MMA fighter on the payroll of the mob. He accidentally knocks out a fighter that the Russian mafia had a great deal of money on and now he must pay the price. The mob takes out Wright’s wife and vow to take out anyone that he talks to and knows. They make good on the promise, killing a poor homeless guy that he spoke to at a shelter.
Meanwhile, the Russian mob and some Asian gangsters are wrestling over control of a 12-year-old orphan that is a whiz with numbers, Mei (Catherine Chan). Her knowledge is the key to a fortune and it has also attracted a group of bad cops that also happen to have a bone to pick with Wright. Wright turned them in for embezzlement and they have held a grudge ever since.
Wright becomes a one man army, killing off nearly every member of the Russian mob and many of the Asian gangsters and he does it in very violent fashion. Many of them are shot in the head, some are hit by cars, and then others…well, only one, is used as a cushion to land on as Wright falls off of a building. The fight scenes in this film are very exciting.
The orphan and the former cop with nothing to lose team up to take down the bad guys and win their freedom from the mobsters, and they are a very likable duo. There is definite TAKEN influence on this movie, but it’s far from a rip off. This is a high-intensity action film that shows just why Statham is so highly regarded by action film fans. It all came together here. SAFE is a winner and I highly recommend it.
Rating: 7.5/10
I love Jason and had an affair with him in my younger days. Holla. I feel safe to say it. Ha Ha Ha