Safe House

There was nothing that really surprised me in Safe House, but the movie did manage to win me over by the end. A lot of this has to do with the charismatic performance of Denzel Washington. He does a lot to sell this material, as well as the character he plays. You can tell that he's having the time of his life playing this charming, let dangerous character. When he flashes that sly smile he uses in this movie, you get the sense it's partially due to the character he's playing (who likes to manipulate the people around him), and partially due to how much fun he's having.

Washington plays the wonderfully-named Tobin Frost, a legendary CIA agent who went rogue years ago, and started selling valuable U.S. secrets to foreign enemies. As the film opens, he's in South Africa, negotiating a deal concerning a top secret computer file. The information it holds must be valuable, as a group of hitmen spring an attack on him on the streets in broad daylight. Thinking fast, Tobin walks right into the front doors of the South African U.S. Consulate building, and turns himself in. This allows himself to buy some time, and think of his next move. The head CIA operatives are obviously suspicious that one of their most wanted criminals just strolls in and surrenders. They decide to take him to a local safe house, where they can interrogate him.

It's here we meet our hero, Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds), a low level CIA agent who has been placed in charge of said safe house for the past year. Matt is bored at his job, since the house he's the caretaker of is usually empty. This is naturally when Tobin is dragged in by an interrogation team. It's interesting to watch Matt's reaction to Tobin's arrival. He seems almost starstruck, as he knows about Frost, and is kind of amazed that his capture is happening at his safe house. That awe turns to confusion when those same hitmen we saw earlier stage an attack on the safe house, killing all the CIA operatives to try to get at Frost, and whatever that file he has holds. Matt manages to escape with Tobin in tow, and must now try to stay ahead of the people trying to kill them both. The movie tries to create an interesting relationship between the two men, since Matt is not quite sure what he's doing, while Tobin has the knowledge and the info that could keep him alive, but cannot fully be trusted. The movie has a little bit of fun with this idea, but not as much as it probably should have.

That's because Safe House is not a thriller that requires a lot of thought or dialogue. It's pretty much one extended chase sequence, with either Matt or Tobin having the upper hand, or being led into something beyond their control. Director Daniel Espinosa is obviously going for something along the lines of the Jason Bourne films, with its rapid editing and high speed chases. At what it's trying to be, it's mostly a success. There are times when the action is a little hard to follow, due to some shaky camera work, but its not a huge problem. While I did often find myself wishing the movie would slow down, and explore some of its more interesting ideas, the action that is on display is certainly never boring. This is one of those movies that never really truly impresses, but still manages to entertain.

Of the two leads, Reynolds gets the most screen time, which is disappointing, since Washington is clearly giving the better performance. Reynolds is fine, but compared to Washington, he seems like a bit of a blank slate at times. He holds up well enough during the film's numerous action sequences, which I guess is what counts, since that's what this is - an almost total action movie with brief pauses for character development. But it's Washington who demands and gets our attention. When he's speaking, he's charismatic and almost likable, even though we know the terrible things the character has done. His performance is the main reason to see Safe House, and the main reason I'm giving it a recommendation.

Outside of his performance, this is a pretty workmanlike, but entertaining spy thriller. It held my attention, and the action is almost constant without being overbearing. In other words, it's passable for this early time of the year when things at the cinema are kind of slow. But, if you haven't seen last weekend's far superior Chronicle, I'd recommend that first. Safe House plays things pretty low key, and just does enough to entertain.

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