Dallas Fisher

It’s safe to say that Jason Statham has now taken the place of what Liam Neeson was doing from 2014-2023. Now that means you’re going to get some good, some bad, and some just in between. This falls in the department of mostly the inbetween. You’re still getting Jason Statham kicking ass and that’s all you can really ask of one word movie titles starring the man himself.

Shelter finds Statham as a recluse on a small Island also housing a lighthouse. It’s pretty obvious from the jump, even without the trailers, that the visiting young girl is going to reluctantly have some sort of relationship with the solitary lead. As usual, Jason gets to show off his soft and tough sides as a protector. I will always be a fan of the man and overall this didn’t diminish my feelings on him, but I do wish this movie did something for him with a little more range.

To put it straight, this feels like someone forgot the Bourne franchise existed and blatantly ripped it off. There’s the behind the scenes people in the control room that give themselves names that are so laughably close to the ones from Bourne, that it cannot be argued how obvious it is. It even has Jason as the ex agent that went into hiding and is now being hunted. Pretty word for word if you ask me and I know that all feels sort of like a spoiler, but I promise you deserve to know these things before going in.

Outside of the obvious stolen valor, this film is unfortunately one that just passes the time. It does a good enough job of answering any questions I had about what’s going on, but honestly I didn’t really care about anyone or anything. The mystery often felt like a crutch to just get us to the set up and never fully fleshed into a good enough reason or binding for clingable chemistry. If Jason and our young lead were put into a different scenario of a script, it probably would have been a better fit. All of this isn’t the girls fault either, of which we have to give props. Bodhi Rae Breatnach (Jesse) is a super solid child actor and adorable (my fiancee’s words, not mine).

At times Shelter can get thrilling and the first kill we see in this movie has the potential to be one of the best of the year. Once the chase begins, the rose colored glasses start to fade. I love that Statham puts on an ass kicking coat at the beginning of the movie and his demeanor will always be a welcome watch. There is just no juice to any of the other projects this movie had going on, and that includes Bill Nighy being a snooze and Naomi Ackie once again being wasted in a role. It does itself no favors either by using the same brown and muted visuals Ric Roman Waugh had leftover from Greenland 2 earlier this month.

As far as the leading role of action man Jason Statham movies go, you could do way better, and worse. It moves at a fast pace but couldn’t we have gotten some one liners or something to make it memorable? Rewatch the Bourne trilogy and you’ll be happier with your time choices.

4/10