Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds bring star power to generic plot
Recently, it seems like Denzel Washington has moved toward the ways of actors like Liam Neeson: the acclaimed, Academy Award-winning actor who has become a must-see action thriller star.
Through his collaborations with director Tony Scott, he has definitely found a comfort zone with the cool, badass veteran persona in movies like “Man on Fire” (2004) and “Unstoppable” (2010).
“Safe House” contains standard B-movie action thriller fair with a top notch cast and a screenplay that doesn’t present anything new or exciting. There is just one word that can best describe this film: generic — in more ways than one.
First of all, the plot is basically your typical CIA agent-gone-rogue story where you know the rogue agent has a reasonable excuse for going rogue. That agent in this movie is Tobin Frost (Washington), the type of character you know is the real deal when one of the lead characters says, “Oh my God, that’s Tobin Frost.” Wanted by the CIA, Tobin surprisingly walks into CIA headquarters and is taken to a safe house for interrogation about some shady dealings with MI6.
However, some unknown assailants raid the safe house, and Frost finds himself on the run with the safe house’s caretaker, Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds), a rookie agent desperate to prove himself and work his way up. Weston becomes a target for both Frost and the people pursuing him, but Weston is determined to take Frost safely back to his superiors, so he sticks with him regardless.
The story goes further into generic territory when Weston learns that Frost harbors information involving a traitor within the CIA. As soon as we hear this, the plot becomes predictable. It becomes completely obvious that the mole Frost has incriminating evidence against is one of the three officials among the CIA brass (Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson and Sam Shepard).
I want to continue by saying what everybody else has been saying about this film: the way this movie plays out, you’d think that it was another Tony Scott film. After all, it does feature the usual Tony Scott aspects, like the handheld camera style, the action scenes containing an uneven pace and, of course, Denzel Washington. The only things that are missing are Scott’s signature flair and the buddy tag team found in “Unstoppable.”
The action sequences are also standard with a fair amount of car chases, and Washington and Reynolds spend a lot of time shooting people and getting shot at. These action scenes would be more enjoyable if they weren’t shot with a handheld camera. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: It is really difficult to tell what is happening in a scene when the camera constantly moves back and forth, up and down, just because it can.
The action’s also pretty uneven. Before the audience can actually become invested in the thrills from the action scenes, the momentum falters harshly when the movie cuts to scenes with the CIA higher-ups talking down to their underlings with computer screens providing exposition.
The only great aspect, and the lone reason people would see this film, is Denzel Washington himself. He brings almost as much zest as he did to his Oscar-winning role in “Training Day” (2001).
The same, however, cannot be said about Ryan Reynolds, who has shown time and time again that he cannot carry an action film (we all know that became a fact after “Green Lantern”), even though he does a decent job with the lightweight naivety of his character.
Everything about this movie is riddled with ‘decent.’ “Safe House” is just a forgettable film that plays off a tired concept used in films like “The Bourne Identity.” The first-rate cast may provide some entertainment, but the film still suffers from trembling cinematography and incoherently edited action sequences.