Starring Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Brendan Gleeson and Vera Farmigia
Directed by Daniel Espinosa
Its said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but with Safe House, first-time director Daniel Espinosa appears to have overlooked the fine line between homage and knock-off.
After a decade in the shadows, rogue spook Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) turns himself in.Before you can say Guantanamo hes getting waterboarded by his former colleagues in a Cape Town safe house. The visit is cut short by a team of assassins who have their own designs on the CIAs guest, leaving field agent wannabe Matt (Ryan Reynolds) to get Frost out alive. But Matt quickly discovers that in the spy game, nothing is ever simple and no one escapes unscathed.
Safe House is watchable thanks to Washingtons oh-so-cool portrayal as Frost, a role he clearly enjoys, and Ryan Reynolds transformation from wide-eyed naïf to world-weary vet in the span of 24 hours. The pair shares a workable chemistry, especially when theyre trying to beat the hell out of each other. There also several solidly choreographed fight sequences, a series of deafening run-and-gun shoot-'em-ups (especially the initial close-quarters fire fight)and car crashes galore. But, as often happens, its the filler that proves problematic.
The excessive faux-Bourne style quick edits are often poorly executed and exacerbated by blurry nausea-inducing handheld shots which obscure the action. David Guggenheims script, hobbled by cookie-cutter dialogue, poorly developed supporting characters, and innate predictability, has an annoying tendency to wander and features the dreaded never-ending ending.
Despite its shortfalls, Safe House has enough shots of Ryan Reyolds sans shirt and gory gunplay to keep both the girls and boys respectively amused.
