atlasmb If you are watching a Jason Statham film, you are probably expecting action. "Safe" gives you action in spades--once it gets started. In the opening scenes, there are two consecutive flashbacks that serve no purpose but slow the development of the film. But once the narrative gets going, the action is superior.First of all, there is so much of it. Secondly, the hand-to-hand combat is very convincing--a requirement for any good action film. Lastly, the chase scenes are exciting and well designed.The story involves a battle between three entities--the Russian mob, the Chinese mob, and New York City police. All three are corrupt organizations, and all three want the same thing--to capture a Chinese girl with important information. Statham's character (a former undercover cop) determines to protect the child despite overwhelming odds. The relationship between the two fugitives is critical to the film's story. Statham is up to the challenge, despite his rough, unemotional façade. One is reminded of Schwarzenegger in "Commando" or Statham himself in "Safe". The added emotional content elevates this film above many others of the genre.

bozabozidar Jason Statham is one of my favourite action heroes and my favourite movies featuring him are Crank 1 & 2, which are a couple of very original black humor comedies. I have seen Safe several days ago and I must admit it kind of shocked me!The first few minutes of the movie seemed like the story would be a cool crime movie about revenge, which I always enjoy seeing. Suma sumarum, Jason Statham was a MMA fighter whose pregnant wife has been killed by the Russian mob, so a year later he is a hobo (because those mobsters also promised to kill anyone he befriends) contemplating suicide in a NYC subway station. Meanwhile, a genius little Chinese girl (Mei) had been brought to the USA by the nefarious triads so she would use her unusual intelligence to work as an accountant for their New York branch. However, the same Russian mob that killed Statham's wife kidnaps that little girl, and by a leap of faith Jason sees them in that subway station and decides to kill them saving the girl along the way. The story then gets more complicated and involves Jason and Mei running away from Russian mafia, Chinese triads and corrupt cops. It also turns out that Jason was a black ops agent who worked with these cops a long time ago, and some time later even the mayor of New York and Jason's ex-partner, who is an unstoppable assassin, get involved in this mess.The story may be convoluted, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. The most amazing and at the same time shocking thing in the movie is the extreme violence with an insanely high bodycount. Literally even the smallest conflict in this movie turns into a mass murder and every problem is solved with violence. It's not just Statham who does the killing; every minor character kills at least a dozen of human beings throughout the movie.A good example of what the film is like is the scene in the triad's headquarters. Before this scene, Jason and those dirty cops decide to temporarily join forces in order to steal something from those headquarters (I won't spoil what). However, the HQ is a nightclub that is guarded by an army of criminals, so the cops arm themselves and simply storm the building. During this raid, hell breaks loose as they fight their way through endless hordes of bad guys who all get quickly killed. So bullets are fired, blood is spilled, bones are broken, brains are blown to pieces, villains get killed, some of the cops also get shot, and even innocent civilians die. Worst of all, all these deaths occur so quickly that it's hard to tell what's going on. Although the scene only lasts a few minutes, there are more than 30 kills shown in it. There are more scenes like this, some of them being even more violent; like the part in the hotel where a special team of triad members ends up slaughtering innocent bystanders and then getting themselves "blown to bits" by the police, but I don't have time to explain every particular scene. When I think about it, this is more of a war epic than a crime movie, since some of the shootouts turn into large-scale battles on the streets of NYC. I actually wonder why did the makers of this movie bother to hire all those extras and spend money on filming their deaths, when the entire movie could have been made with 75% less deaths. Safe somewhat reminds me of the GTA video-games (with all those extreme shootouts in urban environment), but it's even more over-the-top.In the end, Safe is an OK film, but it could have been better. The directing, plot, cinematography and acting are all nice, but for some reason almost every scene in the movie ends with violence, and watching all those murders eventually gets tiresome.

alindsay-al Now I do like Jason Statham and I do believe he can do good films such as Snatch and the Expendables, however, this is not one of them in my opinion. The story sees Luke an ex cop cage fighter lose everything and have nothing to live for until he meets a young Chinese and is given a new mission in life. Now as I said I do like Statham and he is okay in this film especially in the action scenes, but sometimes he seems a bit lazy in his role and occasionally like he is phoning it in. The girl he teams up with does a good job in the role even though her character is a complete stereotype, but she has good good chemistry with Statham. But the rest of the supporting cast are paper thin and cliché with none of the Russian, Chinese or corrupt cops providing good characters. The story is bad with just way too many unnecessary plot twists that you will not care about. Also there are just too many villains in this film that none of them are interesting at all which takes away from the conflict. The script is also not very good with the dialogue seeming comic book like from the villains and the delivery from Statham isn't what it usually is. The style is easily the best part of the film with the action scenes being great and all the action being top notch, plus the sound design is great which makes every gunshot and blow feel harder then it is. Overall I have no interest in seeing this film again which is a disappointment.

bob the moo A cage-fighter haunted by mobsters to the point of being suicidal is distracted from his own personal despair by a Chinese girl who seems to be being pursued by the same group. Stepping in to help her, Luke Wright finds himself drawn into a battle between several gangs and the police as everyone wants a number that she has memorized.Safe is a very odd film because it feels like the writers focused on just setting out the action scenes and it was only on the day of the shoot that someone realized they had no reason for the main character to be doing anything. The basic plot is there but Wright just seems to be whatever the film needs him to be. At first he is in despair and this is what we understand, then he needs connections to the police so it turns out he used to be a cop, then we need to believe that he is capable of what he does so we are told he is a super-soldier of some sort – and none of it makes sense. The plot really is crow barred around the action sequences and you get the feeling that the film never really believes it or cares about it either.The action is bloody but at least distracting in its violence. It is as much nonsense as the plot is though, and eventually it does get a bit tiring to see bodies dropping endlessly without any real investment from the viewer or impact on the main characters. Yakin directs with pace and energy and at least has that going for it. Statham is in odd accent mode, has some terrible lines of dialogue and never really gets his own character. He throws himself into the fights and gunplay, but he seems to have no thread to carry him through the film. Chan is not too cute, which is good, but she is a plot device. In the background countless henchmen fall and "you'll know his face" performances bulk out the main villain roles.Safe is really one for fans of Statham who will love him even in lesser films – which this is. It never convinces in the plot or characters, while the excessive action is distracting but ultimately overdoes the body count to its detriment.