‘Shelter’ movie review: Jason Statham punches his way through this lean actioner

There is something utterly delightful about a lighthouse, immediately bringing up memories of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series, as well as sundry ghosts mournfully clanking chains as they creep up and down the spiral staircase.

So, when Shelter opens in the Hebrides, with the windswept sea and a lighthouse standing proud and true on craggy rocks, you know the curtain has been lifted on a fun time at the movies.

A still from the film
| Photo Credit:
Elevation Pictures

A young girl, Jessie (Bodhi Rae Breathnach), goes with her uncle to the island to deliver supplies to a reclusive man (Jason Statham) every week. Jessie tries to communicate with the Man, leaving little presents with the deliveries, which the Man studiously ignores.

One day, on a supply run, a storm causes Jessie’s boat to capsise. Her uncle drowns, and Jessie’s feet get tangled in a fishing net.

The Man rushes to save Jessie and brings her ashore to his Spartan home. Shocked at the loss of her uncle (Jessie is an orphan, and her uncle was her only family), Jessie and the Man form a tentative bond. When Jessie’s foot gets infected, the Man decides to go to the mainland to get medical supplies, setting off a chain of unfortunate events.

In London, there is horror and outrage at a surveillance programme on ordinary citizens. The MI6 chief, Manafort (Bill Nighy), and the Prime Minister discuss the pros of surveillance and the need for a scapegoat to pacify the howling masses.

A still from the film
| Photo Credit:
Elevation Pictures

The Prime Minister suggests Manafort step down and that his second-in-command, Roberta (Naomi Ackie) take his place while he continues to work in the shadows.

Outside a pharmacy, the Man’s face is identified as that of a dangerous terrorist, and a team is sent out to terminate him. Through the movie, we learn of the Man’s past and why so many people are out to get him, all the while he efficiently dispatches waves of attackers, while remaining one step ahead of a trained killer, James Workman (Bryan Vigier).

After one too many encounters, the Man decides to go to the head of the snake to put the problem to bed once and for all. There is no one the Man can trust except an old friend (Daniel Mays), who is able to provide only limited help.

All that one expects from a Jason Statham film is present and correct. Ric Roman Waugh, who seemed to have sleepwalked through Greenland: Migration, is firmly on top of his game. The action is taut, the chases adrenaline-fuelled, the scenery rugged and beautiful, and Nighy suitably silky and sinister.

One only wishes the dog, with the sweetest expressive eyes, did not come to such a sticky end. Now all that is left to do is to log on to bookalighthouse.com for a week’s stay at one of these jolly lighthouses, while feeling like an assassin on the run.

Shelter is currently running in theatres