Shelter

On a remote island off the coast of Scotland sits a solitary lighthouse, and inside it resides one man by the name of Mason (Jason Statham). Why he is there is unclear to all who are aware of his residence, but when he rescues a drowning girl during a deadly storm, his life secret in the shadows begins to unravel. It is revealed that Mason is a highly trained soldier who defied orders, hence his life in exile, but his old government employers want him silenced. Mason must battle the enemies of his past while doing all he can to protect his new adolescent friend.

You know the drill when it comes to recent Jason Statham movies; shallow in depth but a whole lot of fun. Are there more bad guys to beat up? Of course, but this time fewer than expected. With Shelter, director Ric Roman Waugh has taken a different approach and instead granted license for Statham to smash heads and break limbs only when truly necessary. Rather than WWE-esque action sequences engulfing every scene, the plot presents itself as a tangled web of unknowns that keeps you on your toes, and this allows Statham to be more dynamic than usual in his portrayal of the rugged ex-military killer.

This is aided by his on-screen partnership with young Bodhi Rae Breathnach, who brings an element of humanity to the story. Statham is stoney-faced as usual, but he and Breathnach possess great on-screen chemistry despite large portions of their dialogue proving insignificant to the plot progression. Bill Nighy proves a welcome albeit cliched villainous addition to the cast as Mason’s former boss, hell-bent on revenge after his best assassin disobeyed him, but former intelligence employee Daniel Mays is criminally underused and underwritten as his character attempts to aid Mason.

The score builds as our two leads travel across the UK in search of safety, but the dialogue fails to travel in unison and meanders with little purpose. Ultimately, if a story is going to have little complexity to it and you have Jason Statham in the lead role, you may as well be bold and throw the kitchen sink at the action sequences to provide the audience with a mere morsel of a thrill. Watching Shelter is like eating a bowl of vanilla ice cream. It’s fine, but you are left mourning what could have been if some creative toppings were on offer.