We’re now well into the Neeson formula. After the Beekeeper breakout, Statham is back taking up the Liam Neeson “old guy’s still got it” January slot. Shelter’s hella different though. What if he’s a broken man stuck with a kid, but, he’s Scottish! What a fabulous new wrinkle! Let the formula formulate!
Statham opens the movie like any normal person: refusing to tell us his name, staring out an abandoned lighthouse on a remote Scottish island for hours on end. He’s forced to actually do something when poor young Jessie’s (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) boat with her uncle capsizes in a storm, killing him and injuring her. With no other choice, Statham nurses her to health, and picks up antibiotics for her off island. Cameras trigger MI6’s surveillance database, and outgoing deputy Manafort (Bill Nighy) and incoming deputy Roberta (Naomi Ackie) have a new, urgent “problem” to deal with, license to kill.
This screenplay feels spit out by AI. It just takes all the beats of those Statham/Neeson movies and remixes/regurgitates them, just less well. We get the broadest types possible for everyone: aging hero, plucky innocent heroine, behind the scenes bad guy, assassin, someone caught in the middle. No time for anyone else really, as even possibly interesting characters are eliminated in 2 minutes to promote someone or give someone a macguffin to keep Shelter moving. Naomi Ackie is the only one that actually makes us believe in some sort of character arc here; I’m convinced Statham is a robot programmed to be sad then happy when he meets a kid, so they just restarted his programming. I don’t need all movies to be something new each time I see them, but it would be nice to maybe try something other than Statham in Scotland?
The saving grace of Shelter is Ric Roman Waugh. The former stuntman turned director is the fresh coat of paint that makes the movie work. The minute fisticuffs are being thrown, you feel the professional hand guiding everything where it needs to go. The storm sequence is scary; the car chase is exciting, the club sequence is heinous logically but excellent to look at, and every now & again we get clever visual gags like a character realizing someone bad is coming their way. Ever the stuntman Waugh makes sure that’s Shelter’s spotlight, giving each of his selfless physical specimens great sequences in water or on land. The air is for p*sssies.
Let’s try something a little different next time Jason Statham? I like you, but I know you’re leaving something on the table and coasting a little. Do I Spy a Melissa McCarthy sequel? Make her the queen bee in Beekeeper 2. I’m giving you these ideas for free. USE THEM!