{"id":397605,"date":"2026-01-29T22:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T22:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/397605\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T22:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T22:26:08","slug":"a-solid-new-jason-statham-flick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/397605\/","title":{"rendered":"A Solid New Jason Statham Flick"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJason Statham<\/a> should probably stop pretending not to be who he actually is. In recent films, he\u2019s played a construction worker <\/a>and a beekeeper<\/a> who turned out to have secret pasts as lethal government operatives. In his latest effort he plays a lighthouse keeper on a remote island in the Scottish Hebrides. It\u2019s not hard to figure out that he\u2019s hiding a lethal past. I\u2019m beginning to suspect that he\u2019s not really an actor but rather a deadly assassin who\u2019s just pretending to be one.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn any case, Shelter reliably provides plenty of the action that Statham fans crave, not to mention his trademark charisma and low-key underplaying that makes Charles Bronson look overly demonstrative. But the film also adds a strong emotional component that gives it more gravitas than his usual vehicles. And it boasts some top-flight British actors in the cast, including Bill Nighy<\/a>, Harriet Walter and Naomi Ackie<\/a>, who give it some class.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tShelter\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tThe Bottom Line<\/p>\n

\tPlenty of action, but some heart as well.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRelease date: Friday, Jan. 30
Cast: Jason Statham, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Naomi Ackie, Bill Nighy
Director: Ric Roman Waugh
Screenwriter: Ward Parry
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRated R,
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1 hour 47 minutes\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\tStatham plays Mason, who lives by himself in the lighthouse, with only his loyal dog for company. And that seems to be exactly as he likes it. He spends his spare time playing chess with himself, and his weekly supply of deliveries involves no human contact when brought to him by a young girl, Jessie (Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Hamnet<\/a>), and her uncle. Indeed, when she knocks on his door one day just to see what will happen, he makes it clear that she\u2019s never to do that again.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut when she nearly drowns attempting to return to her uncle\u2019s boat during a raging storm, Mason doesn\u2019t hesitate to risk his life to save her. He nurses Jessie back to health and even takes a rare trip to the mainland to procure some much-needed medicine.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat turns out to be a mistake, since a commando team soon storms his island with orders to kill him on sight. It seems that Mason is a former Special Forces soldier who has been hiding for years because he ran afoul of his superior, Manafort (Nighy), when he refused to obey an illegal order out of conscience. Manafort has taken revenge by switching Mason\u2019s identity with that of a wanted terrorist, leading M16 to go on their mission. What they didn\u2019t reckon with is that Mason has booby-trapped his refuge to the hilt and makes short order of the attackers.<\/p>\n

\n\tForced to go on the lam with Jessie, he turns to a former colleague for help (the reliably good Daniel Mays, The Thursday Murder Club<\/a>). And Mason definitely needs it, because Manafort has set loose his most lethal assassin, known only as Workman (Bryan Vigier, John Wick: Chapter 4<\/a>), to eliminate him. Workman, who makes the Terminator look like a slacker, proves a formidable foe for the older Mason.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou can guess the rest. Lots of shootouts, hand-to-hand fights and chases as Mason desperately tries to get Jessie to safety and avoid getting killed himself. His good-guy status is further emphasized in an encounter with a group of policemen whom he manages to subdue without seriously injuring any of them.<\/p>\n

\n\tDirected by Ric Roman Waugh<\/a>, who has plenty of experience with this sort of thing (Angel Has Fallen<\/a>, Greenland <\/a>and its recent sequel<\/a>), Shelter boasts plenty of exciting action sequences, including a shootout in a crowded nightclub that seems just a tad more realistic than the surreal one in the last John Wick film. Throughout it all, Mason lives up to Manafort\u2019s description of him as a \u201cprecision instrument\u201d with his uncanny ability to outfight and outwit his opponents at every turn. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tProviding some respite from the violent mayhem are scenes in which Manafort stares intently at computer screens tracking what\u2019s going on and the new MI6 chief (Ackie) barks orders at her underlings. Harriet Walter shows up briefly as the British prime minister, who\u2019s in cahoots with Manafort; it\u2019s the third time the distinguished actress has played a prime minister, so it\u2019s not surprising that she doesn\u2019t break a sweat.<\/p>\n

\n\tUltimately, what distinguishes the film from the many Statham shoot-em-ups that have preceded it is Mason\u2019s increasingly close relationship with the young girl, excellently played by Breathnach, who helps him get back in touch with his human side. Their scenes together provide Shelter with a tender quality that could well expand the action star\u2019s fan base. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jason Statham should probably stop pretending not to be who he actually is. In recent films, he\u2019s played…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[125117,96,59,6232,480,11020,136943,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-397605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-bill-nighy","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-greenland","tag-jason-statham","tag-naomi-ackie","tag-ric-roman-waugh","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}