Safe House (2012) Directed by Daniel Espinosa. Written by: David Guggenheim. Starring: Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds and Robert Patrick. IMDB says: “A young CIA agent is tasked with looking after a fugitive in a safe house. But when the safe house is attacked, he finds himself on the run with his charge.“
If you’re expecting anything new or refreshing in the steady-cam-less-military-thriller-genre, look somewhere else. Safe House quickly becomes a typically cliché film with little surprises. Even the soundtrack sounds borrowed. The performances from Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds seem a little phoned in. Denzel comes off as a Detective Alonzo Harris Lite whereas Ryan Reynolds looks like he’s replaying his character from Smoking Aces, Agent Messner, minus the quick dialogue. I really don’t want to draw the Bourne comparisons, so I won’t, but as the events in the film unfold, you’ll see striking similarities.
The film drowns in hyper-realistic color as it pounces and drags over the South African landscape. The quick cuts don’t leave you feeling sick but it makes you wish they would try for something a bit more basic. One thing I did enjoy was showing events while cutting to and playing the dialogue before the events happen without even showing the event in question. Example, in a scene where Reynolds patches up Washington’s character, we see and hear the two rooting through pharmaceutical supplies but we never see them use the supplies, only the after effects. It helps with the pacing of a film that tends to get boring when traipsing through a plot we’ve seen before. Wait for this to come out as a rental or go watch the Bourne movies.
Unlike my good buddy Nick, I wasn’t bothered by Safe House’s short comings and overall had a very enjoyable experience with the film. It’s jam packed with action and surprisingly realistic consequences as well as fine performances from most of the cast. In fact, I think the cast, most importantly the two leads, are really what make this movie resonate past it’s less than compelling script.
The film’s biggest struggle is moving past the inevitable Training Day feel. Denzel is cast as an Ex CIA operative (Tobin Frost) that used to be the best of the best and now is the possible bad guy/maybe good guy. The character choice is always a great match for him because he easily balances tough and excessively charismatic. Reynolds in turn plays the naïve newbie CIA agent (Matt Weston) trying to prove himself so he can be with his French girlfriend. The first part of the film suffers through this seemingly identical Training Day relationship, at one point Tobin Frost even says “I like you” to Matt with that same sly grim. But as the movie progresses, that correlation slowly fizzles out and each actor turns in fine performances.
What really moves the plot along though it the intense amount of action happening on screen. If I dissected the running time of the film, I would guess that about 2/3 of it is adrenaline fueled motion. The frenetic action is palpable, often evoking physical responses from the viewer. Unfortunately on a technical level, the camera work and high contrast film grain end up slightly detracting from the commotion, but really not enough to complain about too thoroughly. In summation, Safe House delivers on action and suspense despite its lackluster script. With the right mix of moods and a cool cast of character, Safe House shouldn’t disappoint prepared moviegoers.
