In movie terms, Jason Statham is a man without a country, an actor who fits so conveniently into a certain kind of movie that almost no one can think of him any other way. Where, oh where, can he go from here? Statham is the go-to guy for action movies that require an appealing, thoughtful protagonist who looks great shirtless, and Boaz Yakin’s Safe is, unfortunately, just more of the same, or perhaps even less of the same. It has neither the Red Bull–fueled crudeness of Crank nor the Frenchified lunatic vitality of the Transporter movies; it’s not even as cheaply entertaining as the generic hit-man retread The Mechanic. Safe shows Statham comfortably treading water, proving all the things he no longer needs to prove – chiefly, that he’s a terrific action performer who moves with more grace than pretty much anyone else in the film world. The picture fails to challenge him. Safe is safer than safe – it’s so relentlessly kinetic that it ends up being dull.
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Filmmaker Boaz Yakin has taken a circuitous route through the years tackling indie dramas (Fresh, A Price Above Rubies, Death in Love) and studio gigs (Remember the Titans, Uptown Girls) alike, not to mention his writing stints on films like Prince of Persia and producing duties on the Hostel films. But this week’s Safe, a frenetic throwback actioner starring Jason Statham, marks a return to his roots — both to the streets of New York he grew up loving and to the genre beginnings that gave him his start.
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This Friday Jason Statham charges into theaters as a cage-fighting ex-NYPD officer who protects a 12-year-old Chinese girl from the Triads, the Russian mob, and corrupt city officials in Boaz Yakin's throwback actioner Safe. So what better way to celebrate the stone-cold suaveness of Britain's most bad-ass action export than by penning a 10-word review of any one of his films? Transport yourself into Statham mode, crank up the chaos, and expend your best critique for your chance to snatch up the grand prize. UPDATE: Contest is now closed. Read the winning 10-word review!
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