‘Shelter’ review: Statham-led action drama is vaguely sturdy, little more
In theaters this week and starring enduring and appealing English action star Jason Statham, “Shelter” proves to be a competent slice of action-driven drama, but it’s pretty far from dynamic.
Hey, we had reason to hope for more, as from time to time — say, with 2024 guilty pleasure “The Beekeeper” — a Statham vehicle proves to be downright entertaining. Plus, this one features a couple of topnotch actors in supporting roles: Bill Nighy and Naomi Ackie.
Disappointingly, those two talented Brits are but background players in this latest so-so effort from American director Ric Roman Waugh (“Angel Has Fallen,” “Greenland”), which sees Statham’s mysterious loner Mason trying to protect a young girl played by Bodhi Rae Breathnach of “Hamnet.”
Mason lives a simple, secluded life on an island off the east coast of Scotland, playing chess against himself and caring for a loyal dog he’s never bothered to name. He’s regularly brought supplies by a man (Michael Shaeffer) and his niece, Jessie (Breathnach), who tries to befriend him but is nudged away.
“Don’t come up here again,” he tells her after she’s delivered something to his door.
“Most people just say thank you,” she says.
Soon, a violent storm claims the life of the uncle, with Mason springing into action to save Jessie from drowning. Suddenly, he has a houseguest, who names the dog Jack and may prove to be a worthy chess opponent. Their interactions are rather sweet, and we quickly see that Mason has a soft side.
It’s all predictable stuff, but it’s effective nevertheless.
Because wounds on Jessie’s ankle require medical supplies, Mason ventures into the nearest town, where he’s caught on camera by the United Kingdom’s controversial homeland surveillance system. That brings him to the attention of Ackie’s Roberta Frost, the new head of the foreign intelligence agency MI6, as well as its former leader, Nighy’s Steven Manafort, who now works in the shadows at the behest of the prime minister (Harriet Walter, “Succession”).
Mason, it turns out, was part of an elite special forces group, the Black Kites, and goes way back with Manafort. They haven’t exactly stayed in touch.
Thus, we get Mason, endeavoring to stay alive and, more importantly, fighting to protect Jessie, first on the island and then on the mainland, where Manafort unleashes a deadly operative, Workman (Bryan Vigier, “John Wick: Chapter 4”), on them.
“Shelter” boasts a few shootouts and one-on-one fights between Mason and Workman, all of them adequate, not spectacular.
Mostly, we get pseudo-father-daughter scenes between Statham and Breathnach, the latter essentially acting circles around the former. Statham has an unquestionable appeal, but scenes like these — in which Jessie is wearing her understandable fear of abandonment on her sleeve, given that her mother lost a battle with cancer a few years ago and the man caring for her has just died — are not his strong suit.
While we look forward to additional work from Breathnach in the future, we wish we got more here from Academy Award nominee Nighy (“Living”), who can’t help but be quietly interesting, and Ackie, who wowed in 2024’s wholly underrated “Blink Twice.” Neither is given anything remotely meaty by screenwriter Ward Parry (“Retribution”), and the guess here is each actor spent only a couple of days or so working on the movie.
Another player enters the fold deeper into the proceedings, but Daniel Mays — who appeared in 2008 Statham-led heist flick “The Bank Job” — barely makes a mark as longtime Mason ally Arthur Booth.
Look, there is nothing egregiously bad about “Shelter,” as uninspired as it too often feels.
Again, it’s competent, and as we sit here in the dead of what for much of the country has become an extremely cold winter, competency may be enough reason to venture to a warm theater.
‘Shelter’
Where: Theaters.
When: Jan. 30.
Rated: R for violence and some language.
Runtime: 1 hour, 47 minutes.
Stars (of four): 2.