Shelter (2026) Dir: Ric Roman Waugh

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Typically speaking, I would not normally be bothered about seeing a Jason Statham film at the cinema - no offence Jason. His films tend to be on the more "switch your brain off" side of the cinema spectrum, and that doesn't always appeal to me, certainly not enough to go to the theatre for it anyway. However, in this instance, I must admit, my interest was peaked by the trailer for this Ric Roman Waugh directed action thriller. It was intriguing, what can I say? It looked to be Jason Statham meets 'John Wick', which sounded genuinely quite fun to me.

In regards to the visuals, I felt like this film showed a lot of potential, at times, but ultimately did not capitalise on that. I was hoping for a little more style, given the lack of substance - more on that later. There were some fairly nice shots, especially in the first act, but the rest of the film felt very generic, which was a bit of a letdown. Most of the film looked like a British crime thriller you would find on the BBC or ITV - not to besmirch those programmes, I'm merely trying to help you, the reader, form an image of what this film looked like.

This film's major weakness, however, was its dialogue. It was, and this is being generous, pretty diabolical throughout, and the narrative had a fair few shortcomings as well. It was the kind of story that worked okay if you didn't think about it much - making this more of a popcorn flick, or, dare I say, a 'dad flick', if you will. On the plus side, the action sequences were solid, and Statham's career as an action star paid-off nicely, as he more than played his part in the exchanges. Furthermore, I thought the soundtrack was actually pretty good, particularly towards the end of the film, where its intense, thumping, rhythms helped up the tension for the climactic moments of the film.

Jason Statham played Jason Statham, of course. I guess it's not a bad thing to know what you're going to get with him - it means that, if you enjoy him in one film, you'll more than likely enjoy him in all his other films too. He can be a good actor, at times, but this wasn't really about acting well. Statham leant his name value and action hero credentials more than his acting talents to this one, and that's essentially all he needed to do. I wouldn't say he acted well, but he did exactly what he needed to do, so who am I to judge?

Bodhi Rae Breathnach, who recently had a small but memorable role in 'Hamnet', gave a pretty divisive performance, in my eyes. I liked elements of her performance, but there were a few scenes that felt very forced and inauthentic. It was hard to tell if this was purely acting, or if it was direction, or even a little of both. Either way, it was a little bit of a shame that she couldn't quite maintain the levels I'd hoped for.

The supporting cast had some big names within its midst, chiefly Bill Nighy, although, I must admit, his performance was not one of his more vintage appearances. Then again, I didn't particularly expect that of him, given the film and its writing. The only other performers really worth mentioning were Naomi Ackie and Daniel Mays, both of whom gave fairly average performances in their respective roles.

Overall, whilst this was a terribly written film, I actually enjoyed it a reasonable amount. The action was the main entertainment factor, to nobody's surprise, I'm sure. It's a certified dad film if ever there was one. This was never going to be a classic, but it had its moments, and I had a fairly good time watching it. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who struggles with these kinds of simple action films, because it very much stays within that mold. If you like that kind of thing, though, then you'll enjoy this one.