- Date of Release: 30 January 2026
- Genre: Action, Thriller
- Language: English
- Watch On: Theatres Only
Shelter
Introduction
It is mind-boggling on how repetitive Jason Statham has become as an actor. A performer with limitations, Statham was the toast of the town for his action sequences in films that were no-nonsense pieces of art, and at the end of the day were, well…entertaining. But as things stand today, Statham would probably be second in a Jason-Statham look-alike competition. The fate of his films are even worse – if you were to push me into a Statham film blind-folded, I wouldn’t be able to differentiate between the two. My only reaction would be a rendition of the Leonardo Di Caprio ‘pointing’ meme, sighting on how I may have seen this junk earlier.
The cold open of Statham’s new English film Shelter is more on the lines of isolation. The Scottish Isles are symbolic of the secluded nature of Michael Mason (Jason Statham), choosing to live a life of solitude with his dog, only to be served food by Jesse (Bodhi Rae Breathnach). The catch remains to dwell on no loose ends – something that does get Jesse curious about Michael and his past. A fatal-tragedy later, Michael saves Jesse from the high waves while forming a close bond with her. The only flip side to the argument remains on how his past begins to catch up.
Story & Screenplay
Written by Ward Perry, the secluded opening of Shelter reminded me of Ric Roman Waugh’s previous directorial venture, Greenland 2: Migration. It is almost a giveaway about the events to follow, the calm before the storm. But to really invest in the chaos later on, your emotional lineage must lie with the characters. Unfortunately, the characterization is so sketchy that I literally remained unmoved with the bond that they share. Mason himself felt like a cross breed of Pathaan (2023) and Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015), given how his bond with Jesse is tested with respect to his past. And once he is accidently detected by the authorities, the narrative gets even more linear and predictable.
A crucial plotpoint that could have actually raised the stakes in the drama was the use of the AI-driven surveillance named ‘T.H.E.A’, that would explore the controversial stakes of the British PM and the head of the MI6 Steven Manafort (Bill Nighy). But the wafer thin plot tries to overstuff the details while literally having nothing new to say. The run-of-the-mill kind of screenplay is quick to convey the ill-effects of Manafort, while swiftly moving onto Roberta (Naomi Ackie) who would be the face of the opposition for Mason. You can see from a distance that Mason is an ex Black Kite (something on the lines of Black Ops) who has gone rogue. His only current stake remains the safety of Jesse who is his open thread.
The proceedings are so uneventful that it almost had me zoning out at various instances. The cat and mouse chase is sluggish, and you almost know that Mason is a superhero veiled as a human, who would remain unharmed while people along him will keep getting bumped off. It is the most ridiculously plain narrative ever, something that remains as clear as day and night. And did I mention hollow? When the character of the dog is shot in a scene, I was unmoved. When a random character is shot while his son looks on, I was unmoved. When a character claimed that he had cancer, I was unmoved. When Mason’s identity was revealed along with his tryst with Iranian nuclear secrets, I was unmoved. When Jesse tried pointing a gun to defend Mason, I was amused….but still unmoved.
The only brush of hope remained the combat sequences between Mason and a no-nonsense assassin (Daniel Mays; referred to as Mason 20 years ago, lol), something that threatened to infuse life in the otherwise dead proceedings. But even those scenes failed to generate the levels of excitement, even during a bizarre cat and mouse chase that ends in a shootout. The proceedings felt like a video game on easy mode, wherein even the moves lacked the wow factor. At a point, the fist-fight between the two characters felt eerily similar to the one in the climax of the Emraan Hashmi starrer Awaarapan (2007), wherein the situation was nearly fitted to context. This, while the screenplay ended on a whimper. So much for the knockout punch at the end…tch tch…
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are corny and cheesy, something that you would generally expect in a mindless actioner. When a character asks on how the protagonist got out alive after he was buried, you can fairly judge the IQ of the drama here that is further accentuated through the lines. The BGM atleast tries its bit to keep things interesting, managing to just about make the drama bearable. The cinematography scores with the wide-angle shots of nature, offering a pseudo-immersive experience at the start, only to transition into poor frames during action sequences that don’t generate any emotions for the characters. Either the frames remain too tight or too distant, thereby never really allowing the viewers to resonate with the action or the characters.
The editing pattern is choppy, and something that is reflective of the quality of the drama to break the momentum frequently. Something like a one-take sequence may have benefited the drama, while acting as a distraction. But in trying to play it safe, the makers lost me. Director Ric Roman Waugh stumbles twice in a month now after Greenland 2: Migration. The idea of relying heavily on just the action set-pieces is never a good idea when the characters have very little to offer in terms of the emotions in play. This was the most disconnected I may have felt in a while for an action film that featured lacklustre execution through and through.
Performances
The performances are average by the members of the cast, with not one actor standing out from the rest. Daniel Mays suffers from a one-dimensional character that has no variations to make him interesting. This, whilst the action set-pieces featuring him felt mediocre too. Naomi Ackie as Roberta is unusually amusing here, given that her character cannot sniff the obvious. Bill Nighy as Manafort is hardly intimidating while probably just turning up for the paycheck. Bodhi Rae Breathnach as Jesse is decent while trying to make her sketchy character work in a few places. But she is mostly kept in the background, in what is a universe defined by the alpha males. Jason Statham as Michael literally sleepwalks through the film, so much so that his disinterested demeanor is reflected in his combat sequences too. His stoic expressions further sink any chances of an emotional connect, even as he furiously is getting predictable and repetitive as an actor.
Conclusion
Shelter is a sluggish actioner that is nothing short of an uneventful snoozefest. It lacks the conviction and the excitement that you would associate with action films, thereby making this drama a woefully forgettable watch. Available in a theatre near you (from 30th January’26 onwards).