Safe

Movie Review: «Safe».

English Title: Safe.
Production: USA, 2011.
Release Date: 18.11.2011 (Ireland), 27.04.2012 (USA).
Russian Distributor: UPI (26.04.2012).
Official Website:
Genres: Action / Drama / Criminal / Thriller.
Director: Boaz Yakin.
Starring: Jason Statham, Catherine Chan, Robert John Burke.
Running Time: 94 minutes.

The Cleaner

The leading role of Luke Wright in the Safe movie was offered to the British action star – Jason Statham. However, this time his portrayal of an ex-officer serving for the Special Police Task Force required some dramatic touches rather than straight brutal offensive techniques as were seen in his Blitz (2011) thriller last year. The new plot is not only inspired by the sense of French scripts such as Leon, but also some American police dramas influenced the writer Boaz Yakin. Here you can find ties with such projects as The French Connection (1971) and The Seven-Ups (1973).

The Action starts unfolding rapidly on screen presenting a vast array of characters with little to no background for each making you combine the whole picture in one during the course of your own adventure. Every person here has its role in the story, whether it is something big or just a short part. All the events take place in New York, while additional interiors were also shot in Philadelphia in such places as Girard College and St. Thomas Church homeless shelter. Although the surrounding scenery looks being quite modern, still the air of this atmosphere is clearly filled with the tricks from the 1970s. This New York is overrun by the criminal entities that control everything that happens in the city.

Luke Wright and his former partner Alex Rosen played by Anson Mount in the Safe film were sent to New York from Washington to enforce the law after the terrorist attacks on the September 11th, 2001. They had to curb the appetites of all criminal authorities nearby soon started dying one after another. Still the popularity wasn’t enough for the corrupt police department headed by Captain Wolf presented here by Robert John Burke. He wanted to take over all the illegal businesses after removing their owners out of the game. Though honest Luke dismisses such an offer reporting to his superiours about failing colleagues.

The whole Wolf’s squad was hit and dismissed moved to ordinary police force. These measures bothered detectives Kolfax, Mears, Lasky, Reddick and Benoit, who all were played by Jay Giannone, James Colby, Matt O’Toole, Jack Gwaltney and Barry Bradford, respectively. The Cleaners department was disbanded, and Alex Rosen was sent to look after Mayor Tremello, presented here by experienced actor - Chris Sarandon. Meanwhile, Luke Wright was trying to survive doing some underground fighting, but once he violated the Russian mafia guidelines, everything valuable in his life was lost.

In addition to the abundance of extras with the Ukrainian origins, the Safe film here depicts the whole clan of the Russian gangsters trying to follow their Italian counterparts traditions. Everything here is managed by don Emile Docheski, who is planning new raids out of his office. The armed gang is led by his son Vassily Docheski working alongside killer named Chemyakin and their countless minions. These characters are performed by Sándor Técsy, Joseph Sikora and a native of the USSR now working for Hollywood – Igor Jijikine.

Fighting Crime

Read on further to learn about the filming and soundtrack of Safe.