PROTECTOR: Former assassin, Michael Mason (Jason Statham), must protect an imperiled girl, Jesse (Bodhi Rae Breathnach), from killers, in Shelter, playing in local theaters. Credit: Photo courtesy of Black Bear Pictures

Shelter
What’s it rated? R
When? 2026
Where’s it showing? Regal Edwards RPX Santa Maria,
Movies Lompoc, Regal Edwards Arroyo Grande 

Ric Roman Waugh (Greenland) directs this action thriller about a recluse (Jason Statham) living on a remote Scottish island with his dog. A young girl, Jesse (Bodhi Rae Breathnach), delivers supplies every week, but during a storm, her dingy is swamped, forcing the recluse, who we later learn is named Michael Mason, to rescue her. What follows is a classic former-operative-dragged-back-into-action-as-he-protects-an-imperiled-child story.

This is predictable Statham territory. He’s taciturn and haunted by his past, but when he’s picked up by T.H.E.A., a vast and probably illegal surveillance system operated by unethical MI6 handler Manafort (an always elegant but malevolent Bill Nighy), he and Jesse are on the run from assassins directed to kill them both. Will we discover cold Mason actually has a heart of gold? Will he go after the corrupt to make things right? Will some asshole kill his dog? Um, duh.

It’s all mostly generic and predictable—well, except I thought I was going to discover Jesse was actually Mason’s daughter—but if you’re in the mood for Jason Statham being Jason Statham and kicking some bad-guy ass, matinee this sucker! (107 min.)

—Glen Starkey

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