Finally, a movie with some b-lls! Daniel Espinosa’s latest film about “one of the most brilliant operatives that the CIA ever had” is a flick that would make Jason Bourne proud. Denzel Washington plays Tobin Frost, a rouge agent of legendary status that has been at large for over a decade. Ok, so now that you know that helpful tidbit down the rabbit hole we go; Tobin is now in custody in a ‘secure’ location in South Africa being babysat by agency nobody Matt Westin played by Ryan Reynolds (yeah…that’ll work). While a guest at the lovely chateau de interrogation, Frost is routinely tortured – nothing like a little afternoon waterboarding before dinner…right? When things go awry, the inexperienced Westin is now responsible for the safety of Frost as they narrowly escape certain death from a variety of volleys namely explosions and gunfire.
The element of imminent danger is the sexiness factor in this one. Guys prepare for sporadic adrenalin doses and ladies prepare to have hands over your eyes because the body count gets pretty high. The fight scenes offer sufficient amounts of HiYas and Kapows for all to enjoy. Seriously though, the hand-to-hand combat sequences are well choreographed and are executed virtually flawlessly so kudos to them. Despite being an obvious Déjà Vu camera work ripoff, Safe House was able to take on a life of its own.
As Frost, Washington teaches us the life lesson that “we are responsible for our houseguests.” But after that not much else is there to be learned from this movie. Action-wise this film can stand pretty firmly rooted against most of its contemporaries, but when it comes down to the plot…Buehler…Buehler…Buehler – there’s just nothing there. Expect Training Day meets Ryan Gosling’s
Driver meets every other Denzel action movie for the past 10 years. No worries though, Safe House is worth the $10.50 per ticket. So, lights, camera, ass-kicking!