SAFE HOUSE

Safe House (2012)
Grade: B-
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Denzel Washington, Brendan Gleeson, Vera Farmiga and Sam Shepard
Premise: A young CIA agent suddenly finds a high-priority fugitive in his custody, and must transport him to a CIA safe house miles away while assassins pursue them.

Rated R for strong, bloody violence, language and a brief scene of torture

It’s not hard to think of a way to describe Safe House, a Denzel Washington spy/action vehicle that hit theaters this past February. Think of the Bourne series. Throw out the amnesia subplot. You’re left with a lickety-split spy/action thriller featuring a high-priority agent--who's in possession of certain secrets--on the run, doing his best to thwart foreign field agents while trying to get back to Washington. And, of course, this person is so important that an entire high-tech room back at “headquarters” in Washington is dedicated to the search/research/capture of this person, wherein some tense, well-dressed company bigwigs stand around barking orders and debating with each other about the person in question’s allegiances and ultimate designated fate (i.e. whether to kill him or not). Still with me? Replace Matt Damon with a combination of Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds. Replace Joan Allen with Vera Farmiga. Replace Albert Finney/Brian Cox with Sam Shepard. Replace David Strathairn with Brendan Gleeson. Stage the action in South Africa instead of Europe. Put ingredients together, stir and let simmer.

Oh, Safe House is an entertaining watch, to be sure. There’s gunplay and car chases and fisticuffs galore, different whodunit and who’s-side-are-they-on subplots and an ending that leaves you wanting a bit more. It’s a decent action picture—fronted by a pair of very capable leading men, to boot. It just feels so familiar. If Denzel wasn’t it, I’d probably forget all about it. Since Denzel is in it, I might remember it for just a little bit longer.

Plot:

Rookie CIA agent Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) undoubtedly wonders why he ever joined the CIA. Though highly trained and highly educated, he was assigned a “house-sitting” position in Cape Town, South Africa, which means he keeps watch over a well-stocked, highly-outfitted, steel-walled CIA safe house just in case the agency ever needs to use it. In other words, his job, 24/7 is to listen for the safe house phone, just in case. But he’s been there a year, and they’ve never used it. Of course, that all changes one day when disgraced CIA field agent Tobin Frost (Washington), a known traitor who leaked secrets to foreign diplomats and spy agencies, is apprehended inside the nearby US Consulate in Cape Town. A special-ops extraction team is immediately summoned, takes Frost into custody, and brings him to Weston’s safe house, where he’s put under interrogation. However, a group of heavily-armed European mercenaries breaks into the safe house halfway through the interrogation and kills off the special ops team, and Weston and Frost just get away.

Forced on the road, Weston is given orders to take Frost to another safe house in the country. But what with the Euro-assassins on their tales, the highly-skilled and intellectual Frost trying to toy with Weston’s mind and escape his custody, and the confusion back at headquarters between different department directors (Brenda Gleeson, Vera Farmiga), whether they’ll even make this new safe house remains a mystery. And, even if they do, the question facing Weston is—what to do with Frost when he gets there?

What Works?

Having Denzel Washington in the movie works, of course! Denzel is no chameleon, but here, as in most of his roles, he radiates charisma and an energy that allows you to take him at his word. A super-smart superspy who can also beat the daylights out of people? Works for me! Frost probably wasn’t a very tough role for Washington to play, but it’s an intriguing and highly-enjoyable performance that more than makes the film. As his opposite number, Ryan Reynolds has neither the acting chops nor the distinguished screen presence of Washington, but he works hard to make you, as the viewer, believe in him. He’s not sleep-walking through this movie, either, and it shows.

While the rest of the cast, though featuring some well-known names, is saddled with a bunch of largely by-the-numbers executive roles, Safe House doesn’t drag. There are several wickedly-intense, edge-of-your-seat action sequences, and only about half of them are ruined by smash-cut editing and shaky-cam cinematography. Washington’s character also displays some cunning ingenuity that makes a fairly cliché spy agency caper like this one a little more intriguing.

What Doesn’t Work?

I already pointed most of it out—one key fight is largely spoiled by poor lighting and hyperactive editing, accomplished actors like Vera Farmiga, Sam Shepard and Brenda Gleeson are stuck in one-dimensional roles anyone could have played, and it’s a little difficult not to roll your eyes during the obligatory third-act “surprises” (this guy was really working with this guy to undermine so-and-so, while So-and-so, contrary to the last hour, is actually a bad guy, which makes him this other person's actual enemy). Sorry if that seems really cynical, but I’ve seen a lot of spy capers with twists and surprises.

Content

Supporting characters in this film have extraordinarily short life spans, and they’re off-ed in ways both subtle and not subtle. There’s a short but intense torture scene early on, a couple of to-a-pulp beatings, a bunch of heavy shootouts, and two extra-brutal fistfights that border on the disturbing in their bone-crunching, pain-inflicting intimate details (Reynolds, playing a rookie agent who's , does make his character’s sense of horror at the escalating violence palpable). Of course, there’s also a couple lines’ worth of four-letter words, but, other than one brief suggestive scene, no hints of sexuality or nudity.

Bottom Line (I Promise): The Bourne Safe House (just kidding) won’t be the most original movie you’ve ever seen, and it doesn’t boast Denzel’s best performance ever, but it’s got enough interesting plot twists and electrifying action sequences that it will keep most viewers entertained. Just try to walk away maintaining some faith in our government’s ability to get things done—that might be this movie’s real challenge.

Safe House (2012)

Directed by Daniel Espinosa

Written by David Guggenheim

Rated R

Length: 115 minutes