As Meg 2 is currently swimming the cinematic high seas, it feels like the perfect time to anchor this terrible metaphor and remember what Jason Statham was up to before he fought CGI sharks for a living. A decade ago The Stath was making the type of uncomplicated and hugely enjoyable action movies that felt like a throwback to the heyday of Stallone, Schwarzenegger or Van Damme. And one of his best, most overlooked efforts is Safe.
Statham plays Luke Wright, a man with an interesting career history: black ops soldier turned city cop turned cage fighter. After accidentally leaving an opponent hospitalised in what was meant to be a fixed fight, Luke is punished by the Russian mafia, who kill his wife and tell him that anyone he so much as speaks to, from that moment on, will be killed.
