Safe House

Safe House follows an inexperienced CIA agent accustomed to twiddling his thumbs at a safe house and Tobin Frost, a traitorous super spy looking to protect his very important data chip. The male-dominated cast did a successful job in creating a mostly entertaining story that follows the premise of many of Denzel Washington’s most current action films, from the storyline down to the cinematography. Don’t expect any surprises; this film is predictable to the end, despite the writers apparently having a slight case of A.D.D.

The opening scenes could have been shortened and used more effectively to establish the film. The plot for Safe House feels like a mash-up of several different action movie clichés with the lovely surprise of being set in South Africa instead of Latin America or Europe. The cinematography follows the apparently very trendy style generally seen in Tony Scott films – earth tones, darker colors, slightly grainy picture quality, and quick scene cuts.

The fight scenes were well choreographed, but the camera work was literally shaky, which is one of my pet peeves. It may make the film more gritty and “real”, but I prefer not feeling like I’m on a boat. The amount of overkill in some of the sequences is more nauseating than anything else – particularly when you hear the audience cheering it on. I had expected a few more explosions, but those were surprisingly few and far between.

Denzel Washington portrays the jaded and more experienced operative as well as he has in every other action film that he’s been in. Ryan Reynolds shows that he still knows how to be wide-eyed and confused looking. Remarkably, it works with this character, the newbie operative desperate for field experience. Safe House’s saving grace is that it’s an action movie coming out the weekend before Valentine’s Day. If you’re hoping to talk your significant other into going, well, it’ll depend on their taste in movies.