Giving this standard Jason Statham thriller the title Shelter feels fitting, as it’s approached more like the building of a house than an expression of art. It has a lot of familiar ingredients used in familiar action pictures of assassins, government conspiracies, car chases, and shootouts in nightclubs. Through its dreary tone and stock theatrics, however, it comes off so routine and forgettable as any number of Statham action paychecks that don’t have some sense of charm. Films like The Beekeeper and The Meg at least had some tongue-in-cheek fun amid the carnage. For Shelter, Statham is so tight-lipped and stone serious as if he just wants to get the job done and go home.

What is most annoying about this film is how it seems to drop any interesting development for the usual assortment of crusty cliches. Statham plays Mason, a hermit who lives in isolation at a lighthouse with his dog. There’s some mystery to his character, and the depressing setting could make a nice setting for a man trying to hide from his past. He could open up when he saves a young girl (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) from a storm and has to care for her. But all of that quickly gets swiped aside when the action needs to pick up, and the lighthouse is abandoned after a decent action scene of Mason murdering pursuing MI6 forces. There’s no time for Mason and the girl to form an emotional connection that never had enough time to simmer. Not when there’s a bland tale of Mason being a former assassin that now has to dismantle the secret government organization that wouldn’t leave him alone.

The lighthouse’s departure prompts all the tired trademarks of an action thriller centered on hired killers. Bill Nighy plays a disgraced MI6 leader who is trying to eliminate Mason and clear his name of his involvement in a secret killer organization known as the Black Kites. Unearthing this information behind the scenes in boring scenes behind computers is a less-corrupt agent played by Naomi Ackie. Daniel Mays plays a former operative who provides some assistance to Mason’s running and gunning from dangerous men. And there’s a pursuing activated agent, who only speaks to his superiors via text, with zero personality in his assassinations; he might as well be a robot.

Nothing in Shelter works that well. The dialogue is a flavorless hash of government secrets most milked, tight-lipped histories so routine they should’ve stayed silent, and dull-as-dishwater discussions about freedom and emotional connections. The action is mostly serviceable, but there’s nothing all that inventive in the many scenes of Statham shooting at people, speeding away in cars, and busting through walls and windows. The characters never have a moment to shine, always feeling like Jason Statham and Bill Nighy are just going through the motions of roles they could perform in their sleep. And why, of all places, did the climax of this film have to be held in the most predictable of locations? A nightclub is not only too easy a choice for a stylish setpiece, but also one that will reveal just how lazy this picture really is. My mind drifted back to the intense, exciting nightclub fights featured in films like John Wick: Chapter 4 and Ballerina. Those films worked because the action took place on a stage of dazzling lights and techno. Statham’s trip to a nightclub for a shootout has all the luster of going to the grocery store because you’re out of bread.

Shelter is a Jason Statham action picture so stock and subpar that you can stay home for this one. What hurts the film most is that it squanders the potential for a better movie. Balancing the expected action of Statham with a moody location like a dreary, broken-down lighthouse could be intriguing, especially for all the inventive ways to kill at such a spot and the character drama that could be had with the little girl. Unfortunately, the film quickly abandons this concept, turning the silent man into a tedious assassin retread and the girl into little more than a young damsel in distress. The staging of familiar action might be a comfort zone for someone like Statham and stuntman-turned-action-director Ric Roman Waugh, but much like an old, comfy pair of shoes, we can all see the holes.

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