Review of Safe (2012) by Steviegjd — 02 May 2012

Navigating between the Chinese Triad, Russian Mafia, corrupt NYPD members and an equally corrupt NY City Mayor's office, Stratham is either befriending or fighting with one or all four of the groups. The movie is very predictable, but it was hard not to like it.

Stratham is a very capable action anti-hero here, though his character's back story is ludicrous. The villains are all pretty stereotypical and mostly decently acted (with the exception of Chris Sarandon's gay mayor, who did not need to be gay and was was not a good casting decision -- totally unbelievable).

The sidekick little girl is cute and effective in her role. It almost had the feel of a Chinese or Korean gangster movie, except the story just got too convoluted. The main story line is preposterous, with the math savant child, the Triad's need for her in the U.

S., then the dual safe exchange involved in the main plot payoff. So when the story is this awful, but the action is real and pretty well filmed, how you rate it depends entirely on how much you like action movies.

They are my guilty pleasure, but I like them better when they are not so contrived. People who rate this movie poorly don't like the genre. Those who rate it highly are perhaps too enamored with the genre to be objective.