Safe (2012): Dir: Boaz Yakin / Cast: Jason Statham, Catherine Chan, Robert John Burke, James Hong, Chris Sarandon: Title references the physical structure where money is kept, as well as Jason Statham's state of physical disposition. He was involved in some bad business that ticked off the local police. His wife is murdered off screen and the sad thing is that some dialogue indicates that she was ugly. Had she been an on screen hottie we would be manipulated into feeling bad, but since she is supposedly ugly the scene where Statham submits himself lacks any care. Eventually Statham is out on the street and anyone he connects with is murdered. When he witnesses a distressed Asian girl at the subway, he saves her from abduction and spends the remainder of the film protecting her and kicking the living crap out of a bunch of thugs. Boaz Yakin previously made Remember the Titans and Uptown Girls so he can transcend any genre. Unfortunately his screenplays lack originality and this film is no different. Statham has an appealing presence that spurns a sense of humour. He survives this standard action fare but Catherine Chan as the girl sought after because of a code she has memorized, has all the personality of bathroom tiles. She displays no emotion and her dialogue is flat. We have wasted appearance by veteran actors such as Chris Sarandon and Robert John Burke who have both seen better days. There is no point to this nonsense other than to showcase Statham kicking ass. That is just as well because viewers will likely be kicking themselves for allowing themselves for putting down money for this crap. Score: 3 ½ / 10

Safe is unique compared many movies in its genre. As a big Statham fan, I enjoyed him taking on a brand new role that required him to flex his acting chops a bit. He takes on many faces with grace. Not exactly Oscar worthy but enough to impress. The relationship between him and his co-star is something new as well. He not only protects the kid out of a sense a duty, like almost every action hero has to date, but because they literally need each other. Their relationship is mutual, adding a very different feel, humane feel to the movie that has been seen sense Dakota Fanning and D. Washington. The action sequences are bold and quite unique in comparison to Statham's other films, although a little gruesome at time. In the end, everything from the characters to the plot to the setting is all very unique. There is nothing really predicable about this movie. Its just... different. For Statham fans out there, you might enjoy this one!

Now I do like Jason Statham and I do believe he can do good films such as Snatch and the Expendables, however, this is not one of them in my opinion. The story sees Luke an ex cop cage fighter lose everything and have nothing to live for until he meets a young Chinese and is given a new mission in life. Now as I said I do like Statham and he is okay in this film especially in the action scenes, but sometimes he seems a bit lazy in his role and occasionally like he is phoning it in. The girl he teams up with does a good job in the role even though her character is a complete stereotype, but she has good good chemistry with Statham. But the rest of the supporting cast are paper thin and cliché with none of the Russian, Chinese or corrupt cops providing good characters. The story is bad with just way too many unnecessary plot twists that you will not care about. Also there are just too many villains in this film that none of them are interesting at all which takes away from the conflict. The script is also not very good with the dialogue seeming comic book like from the villains and the delivery from Statham isn't what it usually is. The style is easily the best part of the film with the action scenes being great and all the action being top notch, plus the sound design is great which makes every gunshot and blow feel harder then it is. Overall I have no interest in seeing this film again which is a disappointment.

Sadly a victim of poor-to-no marketing pre-release, this fantastic action thriller did not find an audience theatrically, though the word-of-mouth was uniformly damning with high praise (not faint). Everyone wanted a PG-13 actioner at the time, and got confused at Yakin (Remember the Titans) being behind-the-scenes, and did not know what to expect. It was something which could've been fixed by smart marketing, esp. in a world stuck to the internet but no, they almost released this direct to video, and both fans of the genre, fans of the star possibly missed out on a very engaging, balls-to-the-wall (soft) R-rated actioner, that's one of the better genre things that Statham has done, and is yet to better.A kinda throwback to the 80s and 90s thrillers, it almost feels like something Shane Black would've written. The flashbacks, and flashback-within-flashbacks structure, for a change, works very well, and this flick possibly has one of the longest setups ever in this kind of a movie, running close to the 1st 30 minutes. Miss even 5 of those, and you'll think you have it figured later, but would do better to revisit the minutes you missed initially.The casting is pitch-perfect, with Statham and everyone else (esp. the heavies) playing to their strengths. The biggest strength this movie has going for it, aside from the fact that there's a genuine sense of urgency and dread in each and every sequence, aside from the fact that everyone's playing it seriously and nothing's for a laugh, is the fantastic action choreography, perhaps the best yet this side of a Bourne movie. You could have had Daniel Craig or Liam Neeson playing the lead, and neither star wouldn't be outa place in this action thriller.Lean and mean, and packed with moments that have unexpected payoffs, this is one for repeated viewings. In fact, I'm writing this after having watched this for the 4th time, with my first 2 viewings being at the cinema, thankfully with a like-minded audience. Perfect, and I do hope it has a decent life at least on video. I, for one, got optimistic after viewing this, but was let down by most of Statham's choices after.