Shelter (United Kingdom/United States, 2026)

One of the great action movie staples is the story of a grim survivor bonding with and becoming the protector of a child. This adoptive parent/child relationship, if handled with a degree of finesse, can add a layer of depth to high-caliber set pieces. James Cameron has leveraged this twice to great effect (Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day), but he is by no means the only one. The landscape is littered with these films—the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Shelter represents Ric Roman Waugh’s attempt at the trope, pairing Jason Statham (no one does "taciturn" better) and 14-year-old Irish actress Bodhi Rae Breathnach. It is a generic spy thriller that works as well as it does because of the stakes created by that central relationship, even if it results in the pair paraphrasing a key exchange from Return of the Jedi.

Michael Mason (Statham), a former elite government assassin, lives a lonely life in an abandoned lighthouse off the coast of Scotland. He has limited contact with the outside world; only a former associate and his young niece, Jessie (Breathnach), visit periodically for no-contact supply deliveries. Jessie is curious about Michael, often including a small gift with each drop-off. On one such supply run, the boat is caught in a storm. Michael manages to save Jessie, but not her uncle.

As Michael nurses her back to health, the two form a gradual bond: orphaned child and disconnected loner. When Jessie’s wounded ankle develops an infection, Michael is forced to the mainland for antibiotics. While there, his image is captured on camera, alerting spymaster Manafort (Bill Nighy), who has his own reasons for wanting his former subordinate dead. Enter strike teams and black ops killers, who flush the duo out of hiding and put them on the run.

It’s probably no exaggeration to say that Jason Statham could do this kind of role in his sleep, though the emotional heavy lifting is a relatively new look for him. While Statham is reliable and handles the action adroitly, his younger co-star, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, steals scenes with impressive regularity. She carries herself as Statham’s equal in terms of screen presence rather than just a child actor along for the ride. Bill Nighy and Naomi Ackie round out the cast, though they are largely collecting paychecks for generic roles (the "former head of MI6 turned covert ops leader" and the "new head of MI6," respectively).

With the release of Shelter, Waugh achieves a distinction that puts him in a dubious class: the director of two January releases in the same year. Waugh, who is frequently paired with Gerard Butler (as is the case with his other January 2026 title, Greenland 2), proves to be a decent fit for Statham. The screenplay could have been written for just about any action star, but Waugh understands how action mechanics work and handles the dramatic material well enough for the film to succeed, even if it doesn't necessarily excel.

My sense is that Shelter was designed with a home video or streaming release in mind; the general lack of publicity suggests as much. Even considering the incorporation of many action tropes, it works fine on a smaller screen, focusing as much on small pleasures as blockbuster spectacle. I found myself greatly enjoying the first third, which delineates Michael’s lighthouse lifestyle, making the movie more engaging before the shooting starts. Perhaps it's the art-house lover in me, but I wouldn’t have minded if those sequences had been stretched out longer. The "low-stakes" approach is also welcome—this is a movie about the lives of a few people rather than earthshaking international consequences. For action fans, Shelter scratches an itch, even if it’s destined to be little more than a passing distraction.

Shelter (United Kingdom/United States, 2026)