Movie Review: Safe
I am disappointed that Safe was released into the early part of the mega-action-movie vortex and is therefore going to get sucked under and swiftly drowned, because FINALLY Jason Statham was in a good movie again.
Yes, his character is almost exactly like his character in The Transporter. I fail to see how this is a bad thing.
This movie should have been released in early March, when it would have stood out more, and fewer people would have been drawn in by the Shiny of CGI-laden comic book movies and been more willing to see a straight-up action flick that actually surprises by having some fairly complex plot put forth coherently.
Characterization is solid and either "flat" or "subtle" depending on your particular taste. The story isn't entirely new, but it is a significantly more complex version of every plotline one finds in such films: we have the ex-military man as reluctant hero (but see below); competing ruthless gangs; an innocent 11-year-old girl in danger; corrupt cops; lots of personal vendettas amongst everyone from the lowest street thug to the mayor of New York. (Who is clearly not supposed to be Bloomberg, since he actually lives in Gracie Mansion.)
There are at least three different cliche plots going on at once, but they fit together with the precision of a Swiss watch, which is, right there, miles better than most movies of this genre. The main plot is just different enough to keep it interesting, though.
The "reluctant hero" is a common plot, often with the "competent guy saves the day because he happens to be there" overlay. What Safe does differently is that the hero isn't reluctant so much as utterly destroyed--his life has been ruined in a manner well beyond "we killed your family"; the Russian mafia kills anyone he speaks to for more than the space of ordering a meal, which leaves Luke (Statham) homeless, jobless, and friendless. (That the Russian mob is keeping ongoing tabs on him so closely is more than a little farfetched; however, it's only been a year. One can no-prize their doggedness as something they don't expect to keep doing for horribly long, and this is borne out by the fact that Luke was about to kill himself right before he fell into the larger plot.)
His reasons for deciding to interfere in a situation and get himself into the story are logical, and the effect on him (dragged up from the lowest point in his life) is a noted part of the character arc.
There are three really great things that elevate this above a standard, forgettable action movie:
1. Although the plot is nothing new, at every point where another movie would do [standard trope], Safe does something different. It's not always spectacularly creative, but it subverts the paradigm enough to jazz the brain and hold your interest. Even the pen-used-as-weapon trope has enough of a twist to make it acceptable and interesting.
2. Related to #1, characters consistently do the smart thing instead of the standard thing. The mob bosses, the cops, the mayor, Luke, and Mei (the girl) are all smart people, and do things that make perfect sense given their characters. This is particularly important at the very end of the movie, where FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, an action movie has a particular cliche set-up finish and then DOESN'T GO THERE in the best way possible. It was awesome. Characters were smart, instead of stupid for the sake of plot-convenience or drama.
3. Some actual art in the unfolding of the story. One of the biggest problems of this sort of action movie is that often you can see a tug-of-war between the writer(s) and director(s) and a movie is a big hash. Maybe at some point something was coherent, but by the time it gets to the theaters you're left with the feeling that important parts of story are on the cutting room floor, and the original script didn't tell this particular story. Safe doesn't have this problem, probably because the director is also the writer. He gets to establish all the players and their backstory in interesting ways at the beginning before having the multiple vectors crash into the main action story. The effect for the viewer is "Okay, you know who everyone is and how they're connected. Ready? Here we go!" He frames that opening section by having the same scene from the POV of both Mei and Luke, which keeps the viewer grounded and anticipatory.
It won't be in the theaters long, so if you like action movies and don't want to do battle with the crowds going to box-office darlings, get going.