"Safe House" Review

“Safe House”
Directed by: Daniel Espinosa
Written by: David Guggenheim
Rated R for strong violence throughout and some language
Theatrical Release Date: February 10, 2012
Review by: Sean Kayden

"Safe House" radiates a promising plot that grows exceedingly predictable once it’s kicked into high gear. Director Daniel Espinoza takes a few examples right out of the Tony Scott director’s handbook. Boisterous action displayed in shaky cam mode soaked with color filtration. 2000s action filmmaking 101 is back into play in Safe House. Ryan Reynolds plays green CIA agent, Matt Westin, who is in charge of a safe house in South Africa. He sees his first bit of action when the CIA captures one of their most wanted rouge agents, Tobin Frost, who’s been on the run for many years. Denzel Washington, in his usual always-cool-under-pressure disposition, plays Frost. Don’t get me wrong, there are moments of pleasure in "Safe House". The performances carry a less than stellar script (ironically hailed one of the best “unproduced” scripts back in 2010) to heights that could only be done with talent such as this. However, once the film concludes, nothing feels memorable or eternal. "Safe House" is agonizingly paint-by-numbers that we’ve all seen before countless times.

After the real CIA agents bring in Frost to the safe house, the stage is set. Reynolds’ boy scout persona meets Washington’s character for the first time. Their introduction is brief given the fact that the people trying to kill Frost in the beginning of the movie have now just raided the safe house. Of course they kill the CIA agents, which leads Westin having no choice, but to get Frost out of harms way. The two go on the run and eventually escape from the bad guys after an outrageous, quite unbelievable car chase. Now that the two are alone, Frost warns Reynolds about the CIA and that now he could be in danger as well. Not surprisingly he doesn’t believe or at least, want to believe Frost could be right and that he’s only strictly getting inside his head. After a serious of events, Frost manages to break away from the novice field agent. When the agent reports back to the CIA about Frost, they begin to believe of the possibility that Westin could be working with Frost. The problem with the film is that the audiences knows exactly how the CIA is functioning, but frustrating as it may be, it takes Reynolds’ character two-thirds of the film to catch up with us. When the movie feels it’s time for some action, it hits you with gunfights and car chases. Cool? Yeah, sure, but it’s as if nothing of substance needs to be said and all it does is give the audience another “keeping-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat” sequences. The third act, while pretty intense and mostly enjoyable feels devastatingly derivate of any action movie you’ve seen in the past decade. Nothing new or revolutionary is happening and the film slips into predictability ever so effortlessly.

If you enjoy Denzel Washington movies, then you should find something likable here. "Safe House" is by no means a bad film. It’s just a painfully generic one. You’ll predict every twist well before it is presented on screen. Unfortunately, in doing so, it takes away most of the fun and excitement. While Reynolds may get a bad wrap from time to time, I’ve always enjoyed the guy. Although Washington may be headlining this movie, it’s Reynolds’ film all the way. Washington is a bona-fide movie star, but with Safe House he takes bits and pieces from his previous acting performances and combines them here. He rarely disappoints (because he’s always the coolest guy in the room), but he’s sort of grown into a caricature of himself. He’s trapped in playing the same guy always, even though it’s what we expect from him. At any rate, "Safe House", despite its familiarity and laborious plotting, does supply strong performances and excitement in small, bursting fragments. I just wish "Safe House" didn’t play things so conventional and well, safe.

Grade: 3 out of 5

Published by Mountain Views News on February 19, 2012
http://mtnviewsnews.com/v06/htm/n07/p08.htm