Review of Safe House (2012) by Quincytheodore — 06 Mar 2012

According to cinemas, when spies get in trouble, they always have assortments of safe houses just waiting to be temporarily populated, free of all pursuers at least until the next scene. As Safe House would say it, instead of only a vacant house, there's actually someone watching over the house called housekeepers and not always a thrilling job. Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) is an agent in charge of a safe house in Cape Town who is unsatisfied with his low ranking job. It will soon change as Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington), a high value target for selling vital information is captured and brought to his secure residence.

Ironically after Frost set foot in there, it's not that safe anymore as a mysterious party chases him desperately and determines to kill everyone in sight, Weston now included. Then off they go in a cataclysmic run across the town, leaving trails of bodies and broken cars. It becomes apparently and painfully clear from the start that the editing and cinematography suck, horrible even. Majority of the shots are blurry, excruciatingly dark, from odd angles and questionably shaky. I can't comprehend what's the point of the shaky cameras. If the director wanted to do rawer outlook, certainly it didn't require him to use epilepsy point of view.

The same goes with the action, compared to recent Haywire which had quite similar chase scene, this one feels too forced and out of focus. The editing is a pure mess, it steals the rhythm and really takes you off the action which could be decent otherwise. Its use of color is a bit drab, which in itself is not bad considering Denzel's previous movie, Unstoppable, also had dreary look to it. But the way Safe House is presented is headache-inducing, especially in darker scenes with lots of camera changing.

The cast however gives an excellent performance through out. Denzel's acting is superb, he exudes confident and experience, continuously changing from silently harsh to ice cold with charisma. Ryan is just as good, perhaps even better in some scenes. His depiction of young agent is cleverly filled with emotions. He is sort of an idealist faced with predicaments that could alter his beliefs. Sometimes he looks like he's about to fall apart, only to get back up and encounter even direr problems.

Aside from these two, the rest are also great talents. Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), Brendan Gleeson (One-eyed guy In Harry Potter), Sam Shepard (Black Hawk Down), each plays CIA agen. One of them might, or might not be involved in the mess. Weston is constantly tested as he tries to figure out where his allegiance lies. Some of the lines are somewhat dull, unfortunately impede their brilliant performances. In fact, the better moments come from more quiet ones, not in the midst of loud gun shots and screeching tires. And it is unapologetically horrifically loud. Fight and chase scenes have appeal, but again the camera and editing ruin them. There are little bits of Bourne trying to squeeze its way to the surface fruitlessly. The script is predictable and story isn't that original. Regardless of poor directing and flaws, the cast manages to pull this one to an enjoyable height.