Review of Safe House (2012) by Homereviewer — 28 May 2012

In some instances, having a good idea of how the movie is likely to go can be a killjoy; then, all that can make that movie watchable, if it indeed has a predictable ending, would be very good and relentless action, in the case of action thriller, or extremely interesting characters in a psychological drama.

This movie is by no means the latter, but as an action thriller, the former, it does provide almost non-stop action, once the basic prologue scenes are done. Denzel Washington plays the role of Tobin Frost, a veteran intelligence operative who is wanted as a traitor by the US, since he went off the grid ten years prior.

He resurfaces after getting his hands on the most incriminating bit of information, the kind that would ruin the careers of high-ups in international intelligence, including the CIA. Not since his role as Creasy, in Man on Fire? did I find myself cheering for the bad guy, who, after all, is not as bad as the system.

Frost seeks refuge at a US consulate in South Africa, to dodge assassins; he is moved to a safe house where the CIA hopes to extract information from him. The minder of the safe house is Matt Weston, played by Ryan Reynolds; he was bored out of his mind until he got call into action.

He has all the skill sets to be an operative and has been preparing for that. When the safe house is besieged by the same assassins, Weston is left to deal with Frost. All the while at CIA headquarters, the team that heads the safe house operations starts budding heads with other CIA sections and from that point, the story becomes rather predictable.

Yet, the characters of Weston and Frost, in addition to those of Barlow, played by Brendan Gleeson, and Linklater, played by Vera Farmiga, sort of keep you interested in watching the rest of the action.

The supporting cast of Farmiga, Glesson, Sam Shepard, Robert Patrick and Ruben Blades certainly adds a bankable element to the production. Washington and Reynolds do justice to their roles; their characters are compelling enough.

There are no big surprises plot-wise, but it's actually that tried and true paradigm of corrupt security intelligentsia that we find comfort in seeing again in the throw of much action. Why make up a nonsensical plot when we are already sold on a given premise? I got what I expected and watched it for that reason; I'd be hard pressed to be too negative.

I'll go out on a safe ledge and recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Man on Fire.