Film Review: Safe House
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Writer: David Guggenheim
Cast: Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Brendan Gleeson, Vera Farmiga, Robert Patrick, Sam Shepard, Liam Cunningham
After rogue C.I.A agent Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) turns himself into the U.S consulate in Cape Town, South Africa, a young C.I.A agent (Ryan Reynolds), tasked with keeping the fugitive under his care after the safe house he is in charge of is breached, is forced to go on the run.
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Despite Safe House starring both Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds, there was something about the trailer that did not get me excited for this movie. As I was watching through the trailer I kept thinking to myself, “Oh, it’s another Denzel Washington movie where he’s teaming up with Tony Scott.” It wasn’t until I did a little more checking that I figured out this wasn’t a Tony Scott film, despite everything in the trailer telling me that it was one. I started thinking to myself that maybe this’ll be something new and refreshing, especially with Denzel playing your anti-hero character, which he is so great at. Sadly, I was wrong.
Before I get into what is bad about this movie, I will highlight the two things that I really did enjoy. First is Ryan Reynolds and his performance. It’s no secret that he had a terrible year last year with Green Lantern and The Change-Up. What he does with the character of Matthew Weston isn’t anything new, but his development over the course of the film is interesting to follow. From a green rookie to a hardened agent at the end of the film, Ryan Reynolds goes through a lot as a character over the course of the three days that the film encompasses.
The only other good thing about this movie is Denzel Washington. It is pretty much his character that drives and carries this movie from star to finish, even though I liked Ryan Reynolds. I wouldn’t have liked Ryan Reynolds’ character if it weren’t for Denzel Washington’s character of Tobin Frost because it is through Reynolds’ interactions with Washington that his character becomes interesting. As for Washington himself, he gives a good performance, but it isn’t his best villain/anti-hero.
After the two leads, the rest of this film is just terrible. Like I stated earlier, this has all the look of a Tony Scott film, but it never is close to being as entertaining. My biggest annoyance with it is how director Daniel Espinosa decided to shoot this movie, which was in shaky cam. At points it makes this movie nearly unwatchable. It wasn’t as nauseating as Contraband, but that was because the camera just moves way too fast that you have no clue what is going on screen. This is the case for absolutely every action sequence in the film and it just became irritating.
The rest of the movie just feels entirely derivative of pretty much every spy thriller out there. It’s pretty obvious who leaked the location of the safe house from the trailer. It’s actually laughable how they try to draw attention away from the actual traitor because it only makes it that much more obvious to the audience. The rest of the cast are just throwaways, most notably Vera Farmiga, which is a shame. Robert Patrick and Liam Cunningham are reduced to nothing more than disappointing cameos. The twist is a joke and the climax of the film is weak.
By the end, Safe House was just disappointing. I didn’t have high expectations to begin with, but to actually hit lower than what I was expecting was a real shame because they do have a solid cast in this movie. The story is just derivative and the way it’s filmed is irritating. But there are some redeeming factors in Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington, they just aren’t enough for me to ignore everything else that was bad.
GO Rating: 2/5
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