Shelter (M, 107 mins)
⭐⭐⭐
For Jason Statham fans, this new thriller Shelter is top-to-bottom chockablock with all the Statham moments you love, and have probably craved since A Working Man and The Beekeeper.
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I'm talking being stoic, and Statham is so stoic in Shelter that I couldn't understand practically any of his dialogue, with his mouth stoically not moving.
I'm talking intense hand-to-hand combat, grabbing at anything to become an impromptu weapon, that leaves you looking around your own kitchen upon returning home and realising how lethal your home actually is.
I'm talking wearing the absolute heck out of some British fashion, and in this instance some knockout Shetland knitted jumpers and thick London coats with the collars turned fashionably up.
Yes, while Jason Statham himself didn't emote too much in this new film, I certainly did, thoroughly enjoying all of the favourite moments along with some unexpected layering of character development.
On a remote island in the north of Scotland, looking after a lighthouse and never once visiting the mainland, is the mysterious Mason (Statham) and his German shepherd.
Occasionally a fishing boat drops off the staples, mainly vodka and whisky, which Mason uses to self-medicate between supply drops.
Every so often the supplies are dropped off by Jesse (Bodhi Rae Breathnach), niece of the fisherman, and during one visit tragedy visits along with an epic storm and the girl is orphaned, nearly drowned, and left for Mason to care for.
Nursing the girl back to health involves him letting down some guards, something that doesn't come naturally to Mason, though he does start to lay off the turps and give some focus to the fragile teenager.
It is the bond the girl forms with his dog that defrosts Mason, and he makes a boat trip to the mainland for the medication Jesse needs.
But his presence is caught by an M16 camera, flagging him as a terrorist in their system and they send in a team of assassins to the small island.
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The wounds run deep with Mason, he's got quite a past as a killer and he despatches the M16 hit squad and takes Jesse on the run.
But he's not the killer the spy agency thinks he is, and his past seems to be intertwined with the now-rogue former M16 head (Bill Nighy) who has sent another assassin, equal to Mason's skillset, to despatch the pair and bury his own shady past.
A crusty and highly skilled operative protecting a young girl is practically the plot of every Jason Statham film because, well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
But here Ward Parry's screenplay does have a relatively new approach for these films, which is a teasingly slow reveal of character and backstory for Statham, which does work to pique your interest.
The screenplay would be nothing without some confident direction by Ric Roman Waugh, a man who loves his shaky-cam, lens-in-your-face, almost claustrophobic filming approach.
The late great film critic David Stratton absolutely loathed a shaky camera in a film, and so he would have really hated this film, as the camera does not rest for a single second.
That makes sense and ratchets up the tension for the film's second half, with Mason and Jesse on the run, pursued by a cadre of bad guys, but Waugh's camera has already established that kind-of ADHD filming approach early on on the film, when it is just Statham and a dog staring wistfully out of a lighthouse window.
Director Waugh began his career as a stuntman on some very big productions, and so there is a real sense of flourish on the stunts, some very intense driving scenes, and some visceral fist-fighting for Statham.
