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So as you know, I stopped writing lengthy reviews on this site this year, keeping the blog as more of a film diary of sorts.  Lo and behold,...

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Movie Review - Safe House

Safe House (2012)
Starring Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Robert Patrick, and Sam Shepard
Directed by Daniel Espinosa

I can't say that Safe House is original in the slightest.  I feel like I've seen everything presented in this thriller before.  Still, thanks to some strong performances from Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds, a quick pace, and a solid (if by-the-books) story, director Daniel Espinosa's first English-language venture is promising (and certainly entertaining) enough to indicate the possibility of success in the young auteur's future.

Matt Weston (Reynolds) is a young aspiring CIA agent stationed in South Africa.  Set to watch over a safe house, his days are filled with boredom, dreaming about the possibility of an upward move within the government agency.  One evening, Weston receives a call that a guest is coming to the house and when the visitor arrives, Weston immediately recognizes him as Tobin Frost (Washington), an ex-CIA operative who has since gone rogue and taken up some criminal activities.  Frost is on the run from some nasty fellows who want a microchip he has obtained and the only way of saving himself was to turn himself in to the US consulate in Cape Town.  Needless to say, the CIA safe house is soon compromised and the young Weston is forced out onto the streets of South Africa with the experienced and untrustworthy Frost where the young agent's skills are put to the ultimate test.

Safe House's biggest problem is that while it attempts to build drama by insinuating that there is a double agent within the CIA, director Daniel Espinosa foreshadows any type of surprises this revelation may have created via his camera work.  Fifteen minutes in, I already was well aware of how this movie was going to end.  That's not to say that there weren't some interesting twists and turns along the way, but the conclusion of the movie is ultimately too obvious and a bit of a letdown.

However, buoyed by some very nice performances from Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds (the latter whom surprised me by being totally believable in an action role) and a solid supporting turn from Vera Farmiga who rarely (if ever) disappoints, Safe House is a good action piece that deserves a look.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

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