Review of Safe House (2012) by Jc E — 13 Sep 2012

Don't you like movies that don't have an underlying political soapbox/social commentary message? Yeah, me too. That's why I was so disappointed in this movie. This is one of those movies that kind of flew in under my radar.

When I saw that it had Denzel Washington (Unstoppable) and Ryan Reynolds (The Change-Up), my interest was piqued. However, the trailer didn't exactly get me thrilled at the thought of seeing it in theaters.

However, when it finally arrived in the mail from Netflix, I was ready to give it the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, a lot of the action and chase scenes we've basically seen before, but Washington and Reynolds definitely have charisma.

It was nice to have a setting like South Africa instead of Europe - it gave the flick distinction. Still, when it veered into anti-waterboarding undertones and blaming the CIA for ills in the world, it got a little preachy-lite.

Neither entirely unexpected nor terrible in and of itself, but I expected more from Washington and Reynolds.