Scene of the Week: Safe – Restaurant fight scene

I watched Jason Statham’s Safe a year or two ago and while I didn’t write a review afterwards, it definitely left an impression on me.

I remember thinking that the film had vast periods where nothing at all seemed to happen followed by seriously awesome action scenes. That pacing killed the movie in my eyes but not enough to make it unwatchable. In fact, the action scenes are so fun that I found myself really enjoying the film by the end.

There are two basic commandments that any highly trained combat specialist would subscribe to and those are (1) Speed and (2) Violence of Action. That means that success in most combat situations depends on how fast you move and the ability to fully commit to the success of the mission. When you kick a door in, you blow it or you bash it in. When you clear a room you take out everything that moves and drive on to the next one. Moving slow and making too much noise (other than gunfire) can stop any operative in his tracks. That is where this film really succeeds. The action scenes always feel crazy and unpredictable and seeing the main character as a veteran of such things makes him feel more legitimate to me.

If you’re a fan of Jason Statham, which you should be by now, you can check out Safe on Netflix streaming now. The story and whatnot are less important compared to the kickass action scenes that fill the back half of the film.