![]() In an early scene, a Russian kingpin threatens to torture Mei if she doesn’t tell him what he wants to know. “Have it your way,” he says before we hear the man’s neck snap. The man doing the killing in the last instance suggests that Mei avert her eyes before he does the awful deed but Mei’s already seen so much brutality she just keeps coldly staring. Two of them, including a woman who betrays Uncle Han, are shot in the head (one with a pistol, one with a shotgun). She’s forced to watch the brutal executions of three people. Speaking of witnessing things, the film’s most disturbing violence-both literally and philosophically-has to do with what 11-year-old Mei sees. At least 40 people, including one hapless waitress, are shot by the time the firefight concludes.Īnd that’s just one of multiple high-body count shootouts we witness. Finally, a level below that, they hit pay dirt. Then they head downstairs to the casino, blasting away a bunch more. To get to it, Luke and the officers must first blast their way through the ground level, which is a nightclub. One scene in particular is representative of the film as a whole: Luke has manipulated his former team of corrupt officers into helping him raid Uncle Han’s casino, beneath which is the sought-after safe. Once Safe’s plot has been established, the violence is pretty much nonstop. Luke ensures that he has leverage against not only the Chinese, but the Russians and the crooked cops should anyone try to harm Mei again. But he’s far more interested in protecting Mei than he is in keeping the money, all of which he returns to Uncle Han in exchange for her future safety. But he’s an honest one.” Indeed, we learn that Luke played a key role in blowing the whistle on corruption within the NYPD, an act that has made him persona non grata among his on-the-take ex-team members.īy film’s end, Luke is in possession of the contents of the titular safe: $30 million. Still, the mayor rightly says of him, “Luke’s a killer. Luke kills many enemies in cold blood-not a good thing, obviously. ![]() I’m paying you back.” Later, Mei (violently) saves Luke again (by shooting a man). In a poignant scene-one of the film’s few quiet moments-Mei asks Luke, “Why did you save me?” He responds, “I didn’t save you. Luke’s transformation from despairing mortal to guardian angel is inspirational. A chase in which no one is safe … least of all moviegoers. It turns out, however, that everyone in NYC wants those numbers: the Chinese, the Russians, a group of corrupt police officers with whom Luke once worked, even the city’s dirty laundry-minded mayor.Ī frenzied, bullet-riddled and brutally violent chase for Mei ensues. Analyzing them together, Luke and Mei decipher a code, a code Luke realizes could only be the combination to a safe.Īnd if Luke can find the safe it unlocks, maybe he can keep Mei safe. At Uncle Han’s orders, she’s memorized a huge string of numbers. Luke slowly wins Mei’s trust … and hears her story. In a flash, Luke is transformed from suicidal widower to zealous defender. That’s when he notices Mei, a small Chinese girl who’s clearly scared … and clearly on the run from the same Russians who killed Annie. ![]() Tormented by guilt and loss, Luke is one step off a subway platform from ending his life. ![]() Not for Luke Wright, an aging mixed martial arts fighter and former police officer whose life takes a tragic turn when he fails to throw a bout he was ordered by the Russian mob to lose.Īnd not for Mei, an 11-year-old math genius whose photographic memory has rendered her a living, breathing disk drive for Chinese gangster Uncle Han-the underworld kingpin who’s kidnapped her and transplanted her from China to New York City to help him run his illicit business.Īs Safe begins, Luke has just discovered his dead wife, Annie, in their bedroom, murdered by the Russians.
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