Opening this weekend is the new film Safe House starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds. Denzel Washington plays Tobin Frost, a former CIA agent gone rogue selling out secrets to the highest bidder. When Frost gets into a jam he turns himself in to the American Embassy in South Africa. There he is escorted to a safe house where Matt Weston (Reynolds) hasn’t seen any activity in months. A team is told to hold Frost there and get him to spill his secrets, but the men out to get him break in. Weston must get Frost out and to safe keeping.
Without a team to back him up, Weston relies on his training to get Frost to another location, but must stay “dark” for 18 hours. Frost starts toying with Matt trying to convince him that people set him up, that others are out to get them and that his girlfriend could have leaked his whereabouts. The CIA thinks Matt could be part of it and are on the lookout for him now too. Not knowing who he can trust and just what type of person Frost is, Matt starts to do things his own way. As more layers unfold, he starts to question exactly what’s going on and whether or not there is more to Tobin Frost.
If Safe House seems like a movie you’ve seen before, it’s because it should. There’s a lot of similarities to many recent action/thrillers. First instinct was it reminded me of a Ridley Scott or Tony Scott film especially Ridley’s Body of Lies. It had the look and feel of a Scott film with time stamping and the use of technology to track people and keep the information churning. And of course Washington has worked with Tony Scott numerous times including Deja Vu and Man on Fire. The scenes of Denzel and Ryan in the car together were similar to Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise together in Michael Mann’s Collateral. If you think the film is a spitting image of one of Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne movies, well you have a good eye because the cinematographer of this was also the cinematographer for The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. Vera Farmiga’s character in Safe House is almost a carbon copy of Joan Allen’s in the Bourne series. And you can take Brendan Gleeson’s character from this and replace him with Brian Cox’s character in the Bourne movies as well.
All that being said, the film still is pretty decent. Sure it’s nothing original or ground breaking, but what do you expect in February? At its core, the film is still an action film with Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds and I’m perfectly fine with that. Denzel can still pull off these roles and with that grin, you never truly know if he’s a good guy, bad guy or someone in between. There’s no “Plymouth Rock landed on us” line or anything like that for him, but Tobin Frost is a solid Denzel character with all his swag personified.
As for Ryan Reynolds, hopefully this movie makes a few bucks because Ryan needs a hit badly. It’s been since 2009 that Ryan had a bankable movie (The Proposal) and if the Boston made R.I.P.D. is gonna make money in 2013, Ryan needs to start turning profits at the box office now. Matt Weston is a good character for him because it showcases his action ability, but there is also a bit of acting going along especially in his scenes with the girlfriend. The one issue I have is that when South African police are looking for him, they describe him as a 6 foot medium build man. Having been hit by Ryan Reynolds in a movie, there ain’t nothing medium build about him.
The film has a few twists and turns and you should be able to see who the bad guy is coming a mile away, but overall Safe House is an entertaining enough action movie. If you’ve liked any of the films I’ve compared it to, you should enjoy it. Don’t expect anything mind blowing and you should walk out entertained at least.
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