Posted in: Kaitlyn Booth, Movies, Review | Tagged: ,

Shelter Review: A Slow Start, but When It Hits, It Hits

Jason Statham has released much better in January, and it might be a better time to rewatch The Beekeeper and wait to see which streaming service Shelter ends up on.

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Article Summary

  • Shelter stars Jason Statham as a reclusive man drawn into danger after rescuing a young girl on a remote island.
  • The film suffers from pacing issues, with a slow first act and a shift to a standard action-thriller formula midway.
  • While the cast, including Naomi Ackie and Bill Nighy, deliver solid performances, their roles are underutilized.
  • Action scenes are competent but familiar, making Shelter a middling entry in Statham's January filmography.

Shelter is mid-tier Jason Statham, featuring some serious pacing issues and missed opportunities, but when it hits, it hits just the way you want and expect it to.

Director: Ric Roman Waugh
Summary: On a remote coastal island, a reclusive man (Statham) rescues a young girl (Breathnach) from a deadly storm, drawing them both into danger. Forced out of isolation, he must confront his turbulent past while protecting her, sending them on a tense journey of survival and redemption.

A promotional movie poster for 'Shelter' featuring a rugged man in a winter coat carrying a rifle, alongside a woman in a cozy sweater, both running on a beach. The title 'SHELTER' is prominently displayed in bright green, emphasizing themes of protection and danger.
Poster © 2025 Black Bear

Shelter is another one of those January movies that has a bunch of the right pieces that never quite come together, but it's also not so horrible that it's bad. It's just a bit mediocre and drags on way too long for a movie that runs around an hour and forty-five minutes. The main thing that really hurts this film is the pacing and structure. The first act is extremely slow, and it's there for a reason. We are establishing who this man, Mason, is, and we're watching him build a dynamic with this young girl, Jesse. It goes on for just a little too long, and, eventually, the entire film shifts, and we go from two people on a secluded island to yet another "government stole our data and made a super program that tracks us all" plot.

The juxtaposition between what almost feels like two different movies isn't bad, at first, because that almost seems like it's going to be the point. Are we going to watch all the technology in the world fail against one man on a secluded island with a hunting knife? That might have been a better movie, and Shelter becomes infinitely less interesting the minute our two main characters leave the island. That setup was the unique thing about this film, and once they hit the mainland, we've seen this movie with Statham as the star half a dozen times in the last decade, minimum.

All of the puzzle pieces Shelter has are laid out on the table once the much more interesting opening location (irony) is left behind, and there are a lot of good ones. It features a pretty impressive cast who are doing a good job with the roles they are given. Naomi Ackie is good in nearly everything she's in, but she is underutilized here, which is a shame. Bill Nighy could play this role in his sleep, but the film takes itself incredibly seriously, so he's not really let loose in any real, tangible way. Statham is playing the same character he's played in many of his previous films, and he's doing it pretty well. In terms of movie kids, Bodhi Rae Breathnach is higher on the list in that she's not downright infuriating, but she's also not entirely compelling either.

For an action movie, the action scenes don't feel as plentiful, but the ones we have are good. There is a heavy emphasis on hand-to-hand combat. Mason starts the movie off with no guns, and while he relies on them more as it goes on, he's much more likely to pick up a piece of junk from the ground to use as a weapon than an actual knife. We have a car chase early on in Act Two, an action scene in a nightclub. As previously stated, we have seen this song-and-dance many times before. Shelter often effectively retreads familiar ground, but it doesn't bring much new to the table.

Shelter isn't terrible by any standard, but it's not particularly good or innovative either. There was potential for them to do something interesting with the idea of a secluded island as the point of conflict, but instead, they went for a much more generic route where you could tick off every plot point like a checklist. Statham has released much better in January, and it might be a better time to rewatch The Beekeeper and wait to see which streaming service this one ends up on.

Shelter
A collage from the film 'Shelter,' featuring a dramatic scene with a man carrying a gun alongside a woman in a rugged outdoor setting, a nightclub scene with vibrant lighting and people dancing, a character analyzing data in front of screens, and a tense moment in a luxurious room with two men, one seated and the other standing.
Review by Kaitlyn Booth
5.5/10
Shelter is mid-tier Jason Statham, featuring some serious pacing issues and missed opportunities, but when it hits, it hits just the way you want and expect it to.

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Kaitlyn BoothAbout Kaitlyn Booth

Kaitlyn is the Editor-in-Chief at Bleeding Cool. Film critic and pop culture writer since 2013. Ace. Leftist. Nerd. Feminist. Writer. Replicant Translator. Cinephillic Virtue Signaler. She/Her. UFCA/GALECA Member. 🍅 Approved. Follow her Threads, Instagram, and Twitter @katiesmovies.
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