Shelter review: Jason Statham slays EVERYONE in this high-octane chase

by · Mail Online

Shelter (15, 107 mins)

Verdict: Jason and the juggernaut

Rating:

When a rugged, taciturn man played by Jason Statham lives alone with a dog in a disused lighthouse on a remote Scottish island, you can bet your last tray of Pedigree Chum that he’ll turn out to be a special forces veteran, living off-grid because there are rotters in suits who want him dead.

There were glaring clues in Statham’s last two films, A Working Man (2025) and The Beekeeper (2024), in which he played a special forces veteran trying to keep a low ­profile as, respectively, a ­construction-site foreman and, yes, a beekeeper.

This time, in Shelter, his character Michael Mason has gone a step further in pursuit of the quiet life – legging it to the Hebrides.

Jason Statham plays the lead character, Michael Mason, in Ric Roman Waugh's new film Shelter
The film's action brings Mason into the path of a young girl - Jesse, played by Bodhi Rae Breathnach
The impressive supporting cast features such talent as Bill Nighy (pictured) and Harriet Walter, among others

There, he unwittingly drags a young girl into the line of fire. 

This is Jesse, played by Bodhi Rae Breathnach, last seen in Hamnet as William Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna.

Aptly enough, it’s a Shakespearean­-level tempest that delivers her into the hands of Mason, who plunges into storm-tossed waters to save her.

But in that time-­honoured way of cinematic tough guys, he is then lumbered with an un­wanted companion (see True Grit and dozens, if not hundreds, more).

Happily, Jesse is a doughty child, so when Mason’s whereabouts become known to rogue elements in MI6, who duly issue a liquidation order, she takes in her stride the killing spree that ensues.

Mason, you see, can knock off a boat-load of commandos before breakfast, his voice never rising to more than a gruff whisper.

There is no such restraint with the film’s ever-more histrionic music.

The strings and percussion sections of an unseen orchestra do relentless battle to see which can more forcefully remind us we’re watching an exciting action thriller.

Thus serenaded, Mason and Jesse make it to the mainland, where he deals with a few zealous Highlands and Islands cops, although less ruthlessly than he dispatched the commandos.

Jason's character Mason is heading to London - but he has a formidable enemy in pursuit of him

Live by the sword, die by the sword. Live by the taser, get temporarily incapacitated by the taser. That is our hero’s honourable credo.

By now, however, he also has a formidable lone assassin on his tail, the only man able to give Mason a run for his money.

Mind you, it’s doubtful whether Mason has any money left having clearly spent a fortune on fabulous knitwear.

There’s not just an inter-agency kill order on his head, but also a designer beanie.

Mason’s destination is London, but if his mind is straying to the Harvey Nichols sales he doesn’t show it.

He needs to get Jesse to safety, so takes her to a nightclub owned by a human-­trafficker, who might be able to spirit her out of the country.

Why a nightclub? So there will be murder on the dancefloor, of course, once a fresh set of operatives close in on him under the subtle cover of yet more throbbing music.

Will Jesse get away? Will Mason be squashed by the MI6 juggernaut? Will he ever stop whispering?

You’ll find no spoilers here. By the way, the supporting cast in Ric Roman Waugh’s film includes Harriet Walter and Bill Nighy.