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'SAFE HOUSE': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Denzel Washington is teamed with Ryan Reynolds for this action/thriller buddy film. It was directed by Daniel Espinosa and written by David Guggenheim. It tells the story of a rogue CIA agent fugitive and a rookie CIA agent on the run together after the safe house the fugitive was being held at is attacked. Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson and Sam Shepard costar. The movie is intense, fast-paced fun with two outstanding leading men performances.

Washington plays Tobin Frost, a former CIA agent who is said to have gone rogue and is now their most wanted fugitive. Reynolds plays Matt Weston, a rookie CIA agent who is tasked with guarding a safe house in Cape Town, South Africa. When Frost turns himself in to the American Consulate, in order to avoid capture by mercenaries pursuing him, he's taken to Weston's safe house. While Frost is being interrogated mercenaries attack the safe house and Frost and Weston flee. Weston tries to keep Frost under control while avoiding their pursuers and trying to make their way to another safe house. In the process he learns from the veteran CIA agent and begins to question his guilt as the two, of course, oddly bond.

Washington and Reynolds aren't the best pairing but both do their parts well. Their characters are fully developed and interesting. The directing is energetic and sufficiently flashy as well, keeping the story going at just the right pace to keep it involving. Not a masterpiece but still an entertaining suspense thriller.

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It is so very difficult to find new material when you piece together a governmental conspiracy movie. Safe House is able to do it to a point. The greatest success of this movie is the usage of modern film techniques. Too often the bulging budget and ability to edit in effects makes action/thriller movies extremely unrealistic. Safe House does the opposite. It takes all of these techniques and uses them to make the movie raw and real.

The actors were hand-picked perfectly for their roles. Ryan Reynolds is the actor you have to use when you want to put a likable, relatable family man in a difficult situation. As a CIA operative caught up in something far outside his experience, he fits in perfectly. As for Denzel Washington, there is little that he can't do. For the unique character of Tobin Frost, there is no better man to fill the role. Together they form a storyline that merely needs to be able to stand on its own two feet. The storyline does stand on its own. That being said, it is the weakest part of the movie. The twists have all been seen before. This movie doesn't offer new plot points to the old conspiracy theory movie. It merely adds new characters. The new characters are great, but it is not enough. In order for the movie to be great, it needed to give something new to the story.

I must say that the end was beautiful. Without giving anything away, it was gracefully preformed. It wrapped up the loose ends that too many other movies simply leave hanging. It adds a whole other dimension to Ryan Reynolds' character. It will, without a doubt, leave you wanting more but somehow completely satisfied.

Safe House is worth a trip to the theatre. With thrillers such as this one, the action is better on the big screen. Between the action and the actors, you will not be disappointed. Next to Liam Neeson's The Grey, this is one of the best action movies so far this year. The thing is, it could have been even better. Too bad.

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It's an interesting albeit predictable action flick that's nothing special but delivers enough to make it worthwhile. It does feature what has to be the dumbest CIA operatives/handlers ever put on film. What transpires, especially early, will make most viewers say "why in the world didn't they just…" but getting past that means enjoying a film where Denzel Washington perfectly menaces and charms his way through every scene. Put just about anyone else in this role and the film would lose a lot. Ryan Reynolds was good enough and the rest of the stellar supporting cast is absolutely wasted. Again, I found it interesting despite it being three repetitive acts of mindless turns highlighting that the government is pure evil and they apparently keeping hiring the same set of mindless goons who race around guns blazing everywhere with little effect or competence whatsoever. Also, the camera work was AWFUL in terms of the overuse of the shaky cam.

I'm of the opinion that out of all the movie stars and would-be movie stars in Hollywood, Denzel Washington is one of, if not THE, safest bet. I say this because I don't think I've ever met a person who dislikes the man. In a culture that is built upon strong opinions and holding to said opinions fiercely (this is the backbone of the industry in many ways), it is a remarkable feat to put together a 20+ year career like Denzel has without drawing the ire of someone or some group. Age, race, and gender seem to matter not when it comes to Denzel, whose films almost always find a way to exceed expectations whether they are magnificent (Training Day, American Gangster) or wholly lackluster (John Q, Unstoppable). There is an overriding sense among a high percentage of moviegoers that if Denzel is in, so are they. Safe House, a solid if uninspired action thriller, has proved this theory to be true. Instead of the undercover investigations and shoot outs he expected when he joined the CIA, Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) has been relegated to manning a safe house in Cape Town, South Africa. He is bored and he wants some action, a desire that is all too well fulfilled at the outset of the film when former CIA agent-turned-traitor Tobin Frost (Washington) is brought to his house for interrogation. Soon after his arrival, a militant force arrives to take possession of Frost, killing the highly-trained team that brought Frost into the house. With no other option, Weston grabs Frost and makes a bolt for it, barely escaping the unknown villains who killed his comrades. With no other teams in the area, Weston's superior, David Barlow (Brendan Gleeson), tasks him with keeping Frost alive and in custody until he can be collected, a proposition which turns out to be much more difficult and complex than Weston would have ever imagined. With the assailants hot on their trail and Frost crawling deeper and deeper in Weston's head, the young agent must think fast and learn on the run before he becomes another casualty of a dirty battle that Frost has sucked him into. There are a few departures from the main storyline at work within Safe House but these distractions are only there to lengthen the film and add some uninteresting depth. This film lives and dies on the performances of Reynolds and Washington, both of whom come through beautifully. It's been a rough year for Reynolds whose star status has been thrown into serious question with the failures of Green Lantern and The Change-Up. This role, however, is a better fit for him, allowing him to share the load with an established genre veteran instead of being relied upon to carry a major film on his own. I was pleasantly surprised at his ability to give Weston more depth than what you usually get with this sort of film and I thought he hit the right balance between being a half- terrified, inexperienced field agent and being that hardened, "see this thing through to the bitter end" character that Safe House had to have. Washington, meanwhile, is a tour de force, exuding both charisma and menace in just the right amounts. Always a commanding presence on the screen no matter what his role, Washington is at his best when delivering his lines in that quiet, calm, measured manner which he has become famous for and this is a role that calls upon that ability several times. I can't say that this is one of Washington's best portrayals and it's certainly a safer choice than I'd like to see an actor of his caliber make, but it is nonetheless a reminder of exactly why just about everybody digs what this guy has been selling for two decades. Every other element of Safe House plays second fiddle to the work done by the two leads. The action is intense and somewhat gritty; when a shot is fired, you feel it as much as hear it, a characteristic I quite like in a serious action film. The plot itself is rife with generalities and clichés, making the film about as paint-by-numbers as they come. Personally, though, I didn't get caught up in these half-hearted missteps too often. Better choices could certainly be made; the major "twist" could be seen from a mile away and the conclusion was unsatisfactory for me. But given director Daniel Espinosa's relative inexperience behind the camera and the sheer power of Washington's star appeal, these are issues I found easy to overlook as the film progressed. It's nothing new and it's not a film I want to watch a dozen times over but for what it is, Safe House provides an entertaining and appealing experience.

SAFE HOUSE is a South Africa-filmed action flick that inevitably finds itself heavily indebted to the whole Paul Greengrass BOURNE style in the tale of a cop and a crim who have to team up when they find themselves pursued by a ruthless and murderous gang.

What we have here is an entirely familiar film that nevertheless manages to score a few points along the way, mostly in the action stakes. For SAFE HOUSE is a fast paced, action-oriented movie that features a handful of breakneck shoot-outs, and a film that's held together for the most part by another assured role for Denzel Washington.

Washington can do these kinds of roles in his sleep by now, and it's fair to say that the character of Tobin Frost is hardly a stretch. Nevertheless, he's the best thing in the film by far, delivering a kind of laconic toughness that really works in its favour. Ryan Reynolds is, inevitably, less impressive as the forgettable younger lead, but there are a handful of decent supporting parts for the likes of Liam Cunningham, Brendan Gleeson, Vera Farmiga, and Robert Patrick.

While the plot is routine to say the least, SAFE HOUSE at least looks good and the cinematography is strong. The plot has its share of twists and turns to keep viewers engaged, and I thought the violent but inevitable climax was particularly decent. Not a great film then, but a solid one nonetheless.