“Shelter” Falters Where It Counts

Shelter (Ric Roman Waugh, 2026) 2 out of 5 stars

Who doesn’t love Jason Statham? The man is a true action star, his career filled with one entertaining romp after another, often filled with impressive fight choreography. My favorites include The Transporter (2002) + sequels, The Italian Job (2003), The Bank Job (2008), and some of his Fast & Furious appearances. The Meg was fun, too, if pretty dumb.

Unfortunately, his latest, Shelter, directed by Ric Roman Waugh (Greenland) with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, proves too self-serious and nihilistically violent for its own good. The script, by Ward Parry, also recycles many tropes from earlier films about loners with mysterious pasts. Only Statham’s natural charm and the occasional bit of entertaining mayhem keep this picture going.

Our man plays … a man, whose name, Mason, we don’t learn till much later (not that it matters), living on a small island in the Outer Hebrides off the West Coast of Scotland. He resides alone—except for a dog whose narrative purpose we can discern right away—at the bottom of an abandoned lighthouse, receiving periodic deliveries from the mainland from a friend and that friend’s tween niece, Jesse (Bodhi Rae Breathnach). For the most part, he remains out of sight, downing bottle after bottle of vodka and ignoring Jesse’s strange desire to want to be friends.

But one day, tragedy strikes in the form of a storm that somehow Jesse’s uncle didn’t see coming, stranding her (after almost drowning her) on the island with the taciturn Mason as her only caretaker. Though her ankle is sprained, he won’t call for help. Until he finally has to admit she needs medicine.

It’s then the plot is finally set in motion, his excursion off island caught on camera. We subsequently meet other characters played by Bill Nighy (The Beautiful Game), Naomi Ackie (Mickey 17), Harriet Walter (The Last Duel) and French stuntman Bryan Vigier (The Killer), whose double-crossing machinations drive the murky narrative forward through trite maneuvers we’ve seen before. If you’re going to give us a Jason Bourne-like plot, however, at least deliver some impressive set pieces.

Of which there are a few, but not enough, and with far too much unpleasant collateral damage. A lot of innocent people die here, which, unless you’re a psychopath, makes it really hard to enjoy the proceedings. Also, given how we’ve seen Mason essentially drinking himself to death in the first part of the film, it does beg the question how he has stayed in good enough shape to weather the fight scenes. Fortunately, as tiresomely gruff as he plays it, Statham is still watchable, and young Breathnach gives it her all. That’s some comfort, though very little shelter.

Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Chris Reed is the editor of Film Festival Today. A member of both the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, Chris is, in addition, lead film critic at Hammer to Nail and the author of Film Editing: Theory and Practice.