Safe
Teaser poster
Directed by	Boaz Yakin
Produced by	Lawrence Bender Dana Brunetti
Written by	Boaz Yakin
Starring	Jason Statham Chris Sarandon Robert John Burke James Hong
Music by	Mark Mothersbaugh
Cinematography	Stefan Czapsky
Editing by	Frederic Thoraval
Studio	IM Global Lawrence Bender Productions Trigger Street Productions
Distributed by	Lionsgate
Release date(s)	April 27, 2012 (2012-04-27)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English Mandarin Chinese Russian
Budget	US$33 million
Box office	US$40,346,186 [1]

Safe is an action film written and directed by Boaz Yakin and starring Jason Statham. Statham plays an ex-cop and former cage fighter who must protect a gifted child who is being chased by the Russian mafia, Chinese Triads, and corrupt New York City police.

Plot [edit]

Ex-cop and cage fighter Luke Wright (Jason Statham) unintentionally wins a fixed fight, angering Emile Docheski (Sándor Técsy), head of the Russian mafia. As punishment, Docheski's son Vassily (Joseph Sikora) and his men kill Wright's pregnant wife, then promise to kill anyone to whom he speaks regularly. Luke leaves his life behind, becoming a homeless tramp. At the same time, in China, Mei (Catherine Chan), a young math genius, is kidnapped by men working for Triad boss Han Jiao (James Hong). Han wishes to use Mei as a human computer to eliminate his criminal enterprise's traceable digital footprint. He sends her to New York City, in the care of brutal gangster Quan Chang (Reggie Lee).

One year later, Han arrives from China, asking Mei to memorize a long number. On the way to retrieve a second number, the vehicle is ambushed by the Russian mafia. Mei is taken to Emile, who demands the number, but Mei refuses. Before they can further interrogate her, they are interrupted by police, sent by the corrupt Captain Wolf (Robert John Burke), who works for Han. Mei escapes during the confusion, chased by the Russians to a nearby subway station, where Luke contemplates suicide. Recognizing Chemyakin (Igor Jijikine), one of the men who killed his wife, and seeing Mei's distress, Luke boards the train and kills Chemyakin. Mei flees at the next stop, only to be stopped by two corrupt detectives working for Wolf. Luke arrives and incapacitates the detectives, convincing Mei of his good intentions, before he also dispatches some Russians.

Hiding in a hotel, Mei explains the number to Luke, who guesses that it's the code to a combination safe. When Mei asks Luke why he saved her, he explains that she instead saved him, by giving him a reason to live. However, Quan tracks Mei down, through her cell phone, escaping with her during a diversion, as Luke fights through his men. Across town, Captain Wolf meets with Mayor Danny Tremello (Chris Sarandon), who has learned that Luke is involved. He cautions Wolf, explaining that Luke was not just a cop, but a government "cleaner" responsible for numerous black operations carried out against criminal organizations in the New York area. Luke's life of exile is not one of necessity, but rather of atonement for the things he did in the employ of the government.

Using Chemyakin's phone, Luke sets up Vassily, whom he easily kidnaps. Emile reluctantly accepts a deal for his son's life, explaining that Mei's number unlocks a heavily guarded safe with $30 million, though he does not know the contents of a second safe. Needing a team to get to the safe, Luke recruits Wolf and his detectives. Together, they fight through numerous Triad gangsters, eventually reaching the safe. As Luke is about the open it, Wolf attempts to betray him, but Luke kills the remaining detectives and takes Wolf hostage. Using the money, Luke bribes Alex Rosen (Anson Mount), a former cleaner who now works for the mayor, into rescuing Mei. Alex reveals the second safe to belong to the mayor, containing a disc with data on his corrupt deals. Alex meets with Quan, easily killing him, as Mei watches. Meanwhile, Luke assaults the mayor and retrieves a copy of the mayor's disc.

Alex and Luke arrange a meeting, but Luke refuses to surrender the money, instead suggesting that they settle it with a fight. Before they can begin, Mei shoots Alex, wounding him, and Luke finishes him off. In the aftermath, Luke gives Wolf $50K and instructs him to return Vassily to his father, unharmed. He sends the remainder of the money to Han, to buy off Mei's freedom, threatening to ruin Han's operations, should Han try to recover Mei. Han leaves New York City in disgust, as Luke hides multiple copies of the disc throughout the city. When Mei asks if they're finally safe, Luke responds that they'll just take one day at a time.

Cast [edit]

• Jason Statham as Luke Wright^[2]
• Catherine Chan as Mei^[2]
• Chris Sarandon as Mayor Tremello
• Robert John Burke as Captain Wolf^[2]
• James Hong as Han Jiao^[2]
• Reggie Lee as Quan Chang^[2]
• Danny Hoch^[2]
• Danni Lang as Ling^[3]
• Igor Jijikine as Shemyakin
• David Kim as Triad #1
• Anson Mount as Alex Rosen

Production [edit]

Safe was announced on May 6, 2010.^[4] The film is the first in a three-film distribution deal between IM Global (who also produced and fully financed) and Lionsgate, the other two being Pete Travis' Dredd and Simon West's Protection. Lawrence Bender Productions, Trigger Street Productions, Automatik Entertainment, and 87eleven Action Design also produced.^[5]

On a $30 million budget, principal photography took place from October to December 2010 in Philadelphia and New York City.^[6][7] Filming scenes in Philadelphia on Broad Street was done on the nights and early mornings of November 17, 18, and 19.^[7] A class from a Catholic School in downtown Philadelphia was used for a scene depicting a class in China.

In the United States, the film was scheduled to be released on October 28, 2011,^[8] and March 2, 2012, but was eventually pushed back to April 27, 2012.^[3]

Reception [edit]

Safe has garnered mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 57% of critics have given the film a positive review, with 57 being positive out of a total of 100 reviews counted. The site's consensus says that "while hard-hitting and violently inventive, Safe ultimately proves too formulaic to set itself apart from the action thriller pack – including some of its star's better films."^[9] Peter Travers, the film critic for Rolling Stone, gave the film 2 stars out of a possible 4, and said that "the trouble with Safe is that you know where it's going every step of the way". He also added that "Between the fists, kicks, bullets, car chases and broken trachea, the movie could have milked the sentiment of that relationship until you puked. But Statham and the scrappy Chan play it hard. The restraint becomes them. Statham is still playing it safe in Safe, but vulnerability is showing through the cracks.".^[10] Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film a moderately positive review, saying that "Yakin's slick direction, marked by quick cuts, unstinting energy and a lack of sentimentality, makes the action scenes satisfying," but thought the dialogue was "riddled with clichés."^[11] Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times scored the film 3/5, saying "Yakin gives his star plenty of room to look mean, think fast, drive faster, punch, quip, mow down and charismatically bond with the most imperiled child character in screen memory."^[12]

Home media [edit]

Safe was released on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital on Demand on September 4, 2012.^[13]

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Official website
• Safe at the Internet Movie Database
• Safe at AllRovi
• Safe at Box Office Mojo
• Safe at Metacritic
• Safe at Rotten Tomatoes