24 abr 2012

My Review: Safe House (7/10)


¨Remember rule number one: you are responsible for your house guest. I'm your house guest.¨

I can`t remember ever watching a Denzel Washington film and being disappointed; he always seems to bring his game or at least choose interesting projects because I always end up enjoying his movies. He is one of the best actors of our time and he is really entertaining. Safe House may not be original or have the best script in the world, but it does have plenty of thrills and good performances to keep you at the edge of your seat throughout the movie. It has several similarities with the Bourne franchise, although not nearly as well crafted. This is a movie that won`t stick with you long, but it is good enough to entertain you for two hours and put a smile on your face. I know I can always count on Denzel Washington, and this movie is also powered by Ryan Reynolds performance as well. Both actors bring their A game and deliver a solid entertaining film. I don`t know how relatively unknown Swedish director, Daniel Espinosa, got such talented actors to star in his film, but he can be thankful for it because this movie probably wouldn’t have worked without them. The script written by David Guggenheim isn’t original, several scenes are predictable, but that didn’t ruin the film for me. I still had a great time with Safe House. I really didn’t like some of the shaky camera work, but I guess it`s a trend for several directors these days.

Denzel Washington is Tobin Frost, a former CIA agent who is now one of the most wanted men in the world after going rogue and selling classified information. He runs into a former MI6 agent in Cape Town, South Africa who gives him a disk containing what would seem as some very important information because as soon as he receives it he has dozens of people shooting at him and running after him. Frost has no other alternative but turn himself in at the United States consulate office before these men can get to him. Frost is taken to a Safe House which is guarded by rookie agent Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds). Matt`s contact is David Barlow (Brendan Gleeson) who lets him know that the guest will be arriving soon. When Frost arrives along with the CIA team they are ambushed by the same men that were after him before, and Matt has no other choice but to escape with Frost before these guys get to him. Matt has to deal with protecting Frost while at the same time not allowing him to escape and also figuring out who he can trust in the CIA agent because apparently someone is trying to get to them. Matt is forced into having to protect the enemy, but he will soon find out that the enemy could also come from within.

Safe House will probably be one more of those movies you will forget all about because it lacks originality and has nothing memorable about them, but I guarantee you will be entertained during two solid hours thanks to some good performances from Washington and Reynolds. There are also some interesting secondary actors like Brendan Gleeson, Vera Farmiga, Ruben Blades, Robert Patrick, and Sam Shepard who bring their talents to the table, but the truth of the matter is that the success of the film relies entirely on Reynolds and Washington who have proven yet again to be great and entertaining actors. These guys are doing what they do best: action thrillers and despite not having remarkable material to work with they still manage to entertain and keep us at the edge of our seats. Safe House is an enjoyable film, but just don`t expect much more than that. Not among Washington`s best work, but even mediocre Washington can carry a movie.

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