When you see Jason Statham starring in a one-word title you know exactly what kind of movie you are going to get, and his latest, Shelter, is right on brand.

For this outing, Statham’s Michael Mason gets company in the form of a young girl named Jessie, an orphaned lass played by Bodhi Rae Breathnach (Hamnet) who basically washes up to Michael Mason’s remote Outer Hebrides lighthouse (it was actually shot in Ireland’s coastal County Wicklaw) where he lives quietly in hiding with his pet dog. Mason is an ex-Special Forces guy who now quietly spends his days playing chess in this remote location on the sea, far from his days with MI6 where he went rogue, refused orders when he was asked to do his thing against innocent victims, and now is basically in retirement and long thought dead by his former bosses. Not for long.

First into his life comes Jessie involved in a shipwreck with her uncle, a past colleague of Mason’s, who drowns in a vicious storm and almost takes Jessie down with him before she is heroically rescued from near death by Mason, who brings her out of the drink and then back to life. Slowly he warms up to her as she has nowhere to go, her uncle is dead, her mother died of cancer, and she has no relationship with her deadbeat dad. Proving to be a savvy chess opponent and instant friend to his unnamed dog she names Jack, Jessie gives back Mason some of his unclaimed humanity, but it can’t last for long as MI6 is on his trail and has activated an agent named Workman (French stuntman Bryan Vigier) to kill him. They have to flee.

It turns out his MI6 friend Arthur Booth (Daniel Mays) helped fake his death and gave him the identity of a nobody years ago who unfortunately turned out to be a terrorist on their most wanted list. MI6 has discovered Michael Mason is indeed not dead but alive, and now sought by new boss Roberta Frost (Naomi Ackie), and more chillingly by the mysterious man, Steven Manafort (Bill Nighy), whom she replaced and who has a debt to extract from Mason after all this time. Thus enters Workman at Booth’s house where Mason and Jessie are hiding. This is where we get the first knock-down one-on-one fight of the picture. Rest assured, Mason lives to tell the tale as the action heads to London.

Statham’s characters in these popular kind of kickass movies he is known for rarely are out of his now-familiar and entertaining playbook: men of few words but awesome talents in chases, gun battles and martial arts. Mason is no different, even with a kid and a dog to give him some kind human traits. Breathnach is a worthy partner this time, a young girl who becomes emotionally attached to Mason as a real father figure, and she doesn’t want to lose him. Also especially effective in the cast is Mays, who though given just a few months to live because of cancer is key to helping them evade MI6.

The film has a strong supporting cast safely out of the way of all the firepower. Harriet Walter has a nice scene as the Prime Minister hatching her own devious political plan. Nighy and Ackie spend most of their roles watching the action unfold and following the steps of Mason and Jessie as if they are tuned into a live TV show. This is the kind of technology James Bond never got. Ackie mostly barks orders at her minions to go get him, while Nighy in his home plays the bad guy demanding blood. There is a lot more of that to come.

My only problem with these forgettable but entertaining movies is Statham is almost super human, a “precision operative” as Nighy’s character labels him, able to take out armies of foes on the street with no problem, and pull off battles with ease all by himself. It defies credibility to the point of being ludicrous but that seems to be what audiences want from their action heroes these days. It’s called invincibility and Statham’s got that in spades. Even Bond and John Wayne had movies eventually in which they had to die. Maybe some day for Statham too. Until then, just go with it.

The production itself is handsome, particularly Martin Ahlgren’s cinematography and the atmospheric production design of Tim Blake. Ric Roman Waugh directed ably, his second January film after Greenland 2: Migration earlier in the month. Busy guy.

Producers are Statham, Black Bear’s John Friedberg, Brendon Boyea, Greg Silverman and Jon Berg.

Title: Shelter
Distributor: Black Bear
Release date: January 30, 2026
Director: Ric Roman Waugh
Screenwriter: Ward Parry
Cast: Jason Statham, Bodhi Rae Breathnach,Naomi Ackie, Bill Nighy, Daniel Mays, Bryan Vigier, Harriet Walter
Rating: R
Running time: 1 hr 47 mins