Jason Statham Is a Warm Blanket

Although I think Jason Statham probably has slightly more range than Hollywood is willing to give him credit for, there’s something to be said for knowing what an action movie's star performer will deliver. The taciturn stoicism of a typical Statham hero is as nourishing as a bowl of hearty beef stew on a cold day. We don’t need Statham to upend genre tropes or even pull us into some meticulously detailed world a la John Wick. We need Statham to maim and murder anyone who would seek to do him harm. More importantly, and where Statham’s recent roles take him, is as someone who does violence in the name of protecting normal people. While this wasn’t necessarily unusual in earlier Statham movies like Safe and Hummingbird, he’s made it a cornerstone of his last three movies: The Beekeeper, A Working Man, and now Shelter. While this most recent actioner doesn’t run as smoothly as the previous two entries, it still showcases why Statham’s B-movie flicks make for welcome diversions.

Mason (Statham) lives a hermitic existence with his dog in a decommissioned lighthouse. His only contact with the outside world is a ship helmed by an old friend that brings supplies, which are delivered by the captain’s niece, Jessie (Bodhi Rae Breathnach). When a storm wrecks the ships off the coast of the island and kills her uncle, Mason saves a drowning Jessie and brings her back to his home to recover from an ankle injury. The wound becomes infected, and he must go to the mainland for supplies, where he’s caught on camera by “THEA,” an advanced surveillance system developed by MI-6 and its nefarious chief (Bill Nighy). The surveillance system pegs Mason as a threat, and he and Jessie must go on the run and stop the assassins out to kill the mysterious hermit.

The similarities between Mason and Statham’s recent characters are obvious. He’s a quiet individual who only seeks a life of peace, but when he crosses paths with a normal individual who needs his help or needs to be avenged, his past as the world’s greatest special operative comes to the fore. It’s all quite simple, yet it’s a formula that I’d argue works better for Statham than roles where he’s played a criminal (except for the Crank movies, which offer lunatic thrills). In this mold, Statham’s smoldering intensity almost gives him the mein of a warrior monk, set off from society until called upon to fight injustice and safeguard the innocent. He sets things right not through complicated plotting and schemes, but because Statham knows how to carry enough moral bearing in his violence that he gives the audience the thrill of watching him beat down nameless goons.

While you could argue this is standard superhero fare, the stripped-down nature of Statham as both an actor and a character gives his movies a unique punch. He’s a fighting machine built for a single purpose, and there’s almost no world-building around him. Exposition exists solely to explain why he can kick ass and what the bad guys are up to, and that’s about it. Director Ric Roman Waugh leans into the rural setting of the Scottish Isles to give Shelter a different flavor than Beekeeper or A Working Man, but beyond that, you just let Statham get down to business, give him an emotional bond with a wide-eyed moppet, and that’s a solid movie for what it is.

The biggest problem with Shelter is that, in attempting to keep the intensity of the stakes, it ramps up some of the collateral damage. Without spoiling anything, the violence that surrounds Mason and Jessie on their journey has a habit of sucking the fun out of the proceedings when it affects innocent bystanders. Although this is a valid technique of holding the tension in the picture when we know nothing too serious can befall Mason or Jessie, it still leaves a sour aftertaste where you see hapless individuals get killed by virtue of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If a movie like Shelter is going to be so stripped-down as to become a comfort watch by letting Statham destroy bad guys, then it’s important to keep the fantasy of contained violence intact. When that violence spills over, you start to have a different movie, one that Shelter isn’t prepared to be given its sparse narrative and non-existent subtext.

Thankfully, these rough moments don’t detract too much from the central draw, which again, is Statham wrecking countless dudes. One would think this would be old hat by now, as he’s made variations on this kind of movie for over two decades. And yet I continue to find his schtick, as straightforward as it is, incredibly appealing. Perhaps it’s the lack of frills in an environment where other films feel like they have to do the most to even gain attention. Shelter isn’t going to be some seminal work or even stand out that much in Statham’s filmography. But it does what it says on the tin, and as long as Statham is able to do these satisfying actioners, I’ll keep showing up for them.

Shelter opens in theaters on January 30th.

What I'm Watching

My wife has gotten me into Heated Rivalry. She heard the buzz, I trust her opinion, and once again, she shows she's always right. I'm only four episodes in (there are six total), but the show is the real deal. Yes, the sex scenes are graphic, but they're only one portion of a show that leans just as hard into the emotional angst and longing between these two closeted men. I'll have more to say on the show once I finish it, but for now, I think it absolutely lives up to the hype thanks to the storytelling, the lead performances, and the strong craftsmanship, especially in the cinematography.

Heated Rivalry is on HBO Max.

What I'm Reading

I finished Wuthering Heights, and it was a bit of a struggle, not so much because of Brontë's prose, but because the characters are so toxic and abominable. But that's also kind of the point. As much as film adaptations (including the upcoming one) seem to seize on Catherine and Heathcliff as some passionate, doomed romance, I don't think that's really the author's interest, or, if it is, she's trying to show their doom by making their relationship one of selfishness and cruelty. You need the second volume about the next generation to reach the book's full message.

I've now moved on to my second Vonnegut novel of the year, The Sirens of Titan, and I'm tearing through it much faster than I did with Player Piano. His wit and storytelling are much stronger, and the way he's playing with chronology and identity makes for a good hook.

I also strongly recommend you check out this piece from Adam Serwer at The Atlantic, where he writes about visiting Minneapolis and why the community's resolve is so much stronger than ICE's barbarity.

What I'm Hearing

I'm currently in You Must Remember This' season about "Gossip Girls" Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. While it's interesting (as YMRT always is), these are just two abominable people who appear to have no redeeming values. And I don't think celebrity gossip has advanced much since!

Elsewhere, The New Pornographers have a new single in advance of their new album, but it also reinforces my belief that they peaked with 2014's Brill Bruisers. Their last three albums aren't necessarily bad, but they're also nowhere near as good as their earlier stuff.