Safe

Boaz Yakin's ferocious action-crime thriller incorporates so many elements of star Jason Statham's Transporter series that it almost seems like just another entry. Here, a precocious 12-year-old math prodigy named Mei (Catherine Chan) is abducted from Beijing and forced to work as a “counter” for New York's Chinese Triads—remembering coded numbers, charting ledgers, and keeping account balances (the wary Chinese don't trust computer documentation because of potential hacking). After Mei is kidnapped by the Russians—because she knows the combinations to two safes—she is able to miraculously escape from her brutal captors on a Brooklyn subway platform, where she's found, frightened and alone, by Luke Wright (Statham). An ex-cop turned cage-fighter who is destitute and grieving, Wright is living in a homeless shelter and contemplating suicide after his pregnant wife was killed because he didn't take a dive in a rigged mixed martial arts match. More complications arise from the fact that Luke was hired by crooked New York City Mayor Tremello (Chris Sarandon) and corrupt Captain Wolf (Robert John Burke) to control and extort from local mafia groups after 9/11. Saving Mei is Luke's chance for redemption amidst all the double-crosses. Serving up plenty of civilian collateral carnage as violent, digitally exaggerated, quick-cut shootouts erupt all over New York (in a subway car, a hotel dining room, and a Chinatown nightclub), Safe may be more vicious than some of its brethren, but is still familiar fare. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by writer-director Boaz Yakin, a “Cracking Safe” behind-the-scenes featurette (12 min.), the production segments “The Art of the Gunfight” (10 min.) and “Criminal Battleground” (8 min.), trailers, and bonus digital and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a so-so action-thriller.] (S. Granger)