Safe
★★½

This is a snappy crime movie.

At first glance, I thought it would be a defacto rehash of another Statham film, but it turns out to be rather more than that.

The movie’s McGuffin is a young Chinese girl with an eidetic memory. Because if her talents, she’s been pressed into service by an organized crime family. She’s given one particularly important number to memorize when a rival crime family realizes what information she has.

Former cop Luke Wirght (Jason Statham) comes to the rescue, in one of Statham’s better performances. In particular, there’s a scene early in the film where Statham sells real pain and trauma that gives the film more emotional punch than you expect. It’s a reminder that Statham isn’t given enough opportunities to act.

The second half of the film is weaker than the first, as more and more players get added to the mix. More of a problem is that as the film ramps up the action, the weaknesses of direction become apparent. Boaz Yakin makes a mistake common to a lot of current films. He things that it’s important for the camera to get into the action. Well, no, camera movement is not as interesting as seeing the actors do amazing stunt work. The action choreography looks quite good, but a lot of times, you can’t see it as clearly as you’d like.

This may be the last week you’ll be able to see it in theatres, so catch it while you can.