“Shelter” (2026) is the latest Jason Statham movie. This time, Statham plays Michael Mason, a recluse who lives on an isolated Scottish Island. Teen girl, Jesse (Bodhi Bae Breathnach), drops off his groceries and is curious about him, but her timing is awful. Her visit coincides at the same time as M16’s intelligence surveillance program, T.H.E.A. (Total Human Engagement Analytics), catches a glimpse of him, which puts Jesse in their crosshairs. It becomes a race between former M16 head, Manafort (Bill Nighy), and current M16 head, Roberta (Naomi Ackie), on who will catch them first. Will Michael be able to get Jesse out of this mess? “Shelter” does its job and is not dog shit like “A Working Man” (2025). It does not break any new ground, and it does not screw up the formula while avoiding the biggest trope.
For those of you with a crush on Statham, he is dressed from head to toe in bulky, winter clothes and a coat. Sorry. He looks nice in them. Mason wants to be alone to stare into the distance, drink his vodka, walk around with his dog and learn how to play the cello. OK that last one is made up. He has zero hobbies. When Jesse starts bothering him, he is gently gruff, and once he is saddled with her, he defrosts. Turns out that he does have hobbies. Because he has a dog and is good with children, it is obvious that despite his standoffishness, he is a decent fellow.
“Shelter” just decides that Jesse wants to meet him in the most aggressive kind way ever that the island may as well be Manhattan. Once she gets her wish and is stuck with him, there is a brief period where she fears him, which kind of makes no sense because she has been trying to meet him in person as if he is a member of BTS. Writer Ward Parry’s only false note is trying to introduce conflict when none is needed, but considering it is only his third feature, it is not too bad, and Parry gets more right than wrong. Breathnach is a good little actor, and if she seems vaguely familiar, she was one of the kids in “Hamnet” (2025). It is entirely possible that one day, Statham will be telling stories about how he knew her once. She and Statham have great chemistry, especially when he gives her impromptu weapons lessons. Jesse quickly gets attached to Mason and is not even a bit alarmed when she realizes that he can easily take out a group of men and not for dinner.
Jesse does not get a coat, and men run warm. Costume designer Suzie Harman and director Ric Roman Waugh drop the ball on this one. If Mason is protective, he would care if Jesse is cold. Otherwise, Harman clearly has an aesthetic once she is dressing the M16 characters or the Prime Minister (Harriet Walter). It is grey and black if they are feeling sassy, but grey on grey on grey for when they feel like slumming it. It felt very much as if the Eighties were back (compliment) with women dressed like men, but not in the boxy way that they used to. It is an updated, sleeker, androgynous look. Shirts are buttoned to the top and tucked in. There are ties. Manafort’s men wear light grey suits with sweater vests and ties. It is London so it is completely understandable that no one is alarmed. They could be a flash mob doing a remake of “Man in Finance.” One character gets dressed in a variety of steel blues.
Waugh has two movies out this year: “Shelter” and “Greenland 2: Migration” (2026). He is a fairly reliable action with some narrative meat on its bones director with “Shot Caller” (2017), “Angel Has Fallen” (2019) and “Greenland” (2020) but is not someone who people put on their wish lists to direct their faves. He does his job, and that is more than a lot of people can say. With “Shelter,” he almost drops the ball, but is saved because of how dog shit “A Working Man” was. Why did Waugh want his film to look blurry? Why do people not want people to see Statham and the action on screen? Editor Matthew Newman over edits, and the camera moves around so much when the fight choreography needs to be appreciated. The stunts were really good, so it did not feel as if all the cuts and movement were to hide its defects or shortcomings. Stop with the chaos cinema!
Despite these negatives, “Shelter” does enough right that it is possible to overlook the frustration of these drawbacks. Overall, Parry and Waugh have decent pacing though one car chase scene could have been shorter, and if fifteen minutes were trimmed, it would be a better film. These two mostly understand when it is time to move on and not linger. The introduction of M16, the manhunt for the surrogate father and daughter and the club showdown are almost as familiar and comforting as the Stations of the Cross. Also, if you cast solid actors in archetypical roles who are willing to give committed performances as if they are in Shakespeare, then it will be fun, not an unintentional exercise in secondhand embarrassment.
Everyone knows that Ackie and Nighy are good actors, so it is not a surprise when they do their job. Ackie’s Roberta is a by the books, dog with a bone stuck in a room with monitors and must be invested as if actual action is unfolding around her. Nighy gets to hang out in the best digs, and the only thing hilarious about his role is the fact that the oldest man in the cast is apparently the technology genius. Someone in catering get him some food. Tom Wu as Kamal Sharpe, the owner of the Neon Dragon, the aforementioned nightclub, hits all the right notes. It is possible that Wu’s range only extends to this role and nothing more, but when someone does a job well, you want to give a little leeway, which a lot of actors may not understand. The key is to do your job and not be forgettable. His character is puzzling because everyone agrees that he is a trafficker but trusted not to hurt a little girl. That is a fine line that does not work in the real world.
Bryan Vigier as James Workman, the man tasked to catch the two, steals the show. It is easy to imagine that when Workman was a kid, he had a poster of Robert Patrick in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991) and decided to make it his whole personality. When he is first introduced, he is just running in the dark, which would normally seem ridiculous, but did not if you think of him as obsessed with his job. He is a worthy opponent, and the fight scenes were chef’s kiss. 10 out of 10. No notes. Every fight sequence with Vigier and Statham is great, and it starts with a bang at the farm scene which is just casually brutal. Everyone can get it.
While “Shelter” is not the kind of movie that I would seek out and watch in my free time at the theater, I appreciate how it adhered to the formula and treated it with care. Good acting, solid choreography and real stakes keeps it fresh and engrossing, but please stop wasting quality work with chaos cinema. Use the Fred Astaire rule. Put that camera down and let us enjoy the spectacle.
