Penny Thoughts ‘13—Safe (2012) **

R, 94 min.

Director/Writer: Boaz Yakin

Starring: Jason Statham, Catherine Chan, Reggie Lee, Robert John Burke, James Hong, Anson Mount, Chris Sarandon, Sándor Técsy, Joseph Sikora

Jason Statham is one of those actors that I have a strange respect for despite the fact that he rarely appears in the types of movies that I enjoy. More accurately, he rarely appears in movies I feel are any good. Perhaps my respect comes from the fact that I know if it came down to him and me; I’d just kneel down and say ”Uncle!” without a fight.

I have seen Statham in some good movies. One very good one in particular always sticks out in my mind, “The Bank Job”. Most of his movies run the same variation of the story in the movie “Safe”, however. “Safe” is far from one of his worst movies. In fact, of the former inside man whose been kicked out and now finds himself protecting someone from the very people he once worked for, “Safe” isn’t half bad. It just doesn’t have much flare to it.

In it, he’s not a former employee of just one group after something he’s protecting, but two. He was kicked out because he failed to throw a fight for the Russian mob. So he was working for the Russian mob at one point. He was also an NYPD detective at one point. They don’t like him either because he ratted them out for taking payments from the Russians. It’s a little unclear as to when he worked for the police undercover and when he was in the mob. I think he started out undercover, but then he failed to throw the fight for the Russians. Maybe it makes sense to someone, but not to me.

Anyway, the person he’s protecting is an eleven-year-old Chinese girl who helps the Chinese mob run numbers without computers. She’s entrusted with an important code and goes on the run when the Russians and the NYPD try to get her away from the Chinese. So now, there are three different organizations after them. That’s more exciting than just one. Apparently, the mayor and his assistant are also in on this scheme. The assistant is supposed to have some sort of history with the hero that we’re just supposed to accept without being told what it was.

This movie will satisfy any Jason Statham fan. It has good action scenes. It has the typical story, which is complicated by the fact that so many different factions are involved. It isn’t anything special though, and for those looking for a little cohesive backstory to their action flicks; it just isn’t there.