Safe House

[Emperor]

Some spoilers ahead

 

I've never had the pleasure of seeing any of Swedish-born director Daniel Espinosa's other films (he's only made three, all in his native country/tongue), but based on his approach to his first studio movie, SAFE HOUSE, I have to imagine there are probably examples in his older works of his "more-is-more" style that nearly smothers what might have been a fairly interesting psychological action film. The idea of a rookie CIA safe house operative trying to protect a prisoner, while said prisoner is trying to get into the rookie's head and make him doubt his every decision and move is a cool one. But Espinosa's overdone atmosphere is at times so distracting that you forget to actually pay attention to what's being said. Add to that some ridiculous shaky-cam cinematography (thanks to Oliver Wood, who clearly never met a tripod that was good enough for him), and you get a film that feels like the actors are actually competing for attention with the director.

 

The rookie CIA agent is Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds, stripped of most of his comic smarm, and that's a good thing for this role), stationed in South Africa for a year and wanting desperately to be reassigned to Paris, where his hot girlfriend (Nora Arnezeder) is about to move. He's lobbying a higher-up fellow agent and friend David Barlow (Brendan Gleeson) for a better job, but even he's not sure he can help Weston with his promotion.

 

Meanwhile, a legend at the agency, Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington), has involved himself in a deal with a rogue MI6 agent that would appear to involve him acquiring a file with the names of intelligence agents from all over the world, something nobody wants to get released. He is captured and brought to Weston's safe house, which is promptly attacked by hired mercenaries, and the two CIA agents are forced to take their show on the road in an effort to keep Frost alive. Meanwhile back in Langley, top agents played by the likes of Sam Shepard and Vera Farmiga are working to contact Weston and guide him to a safe place where he and Frost can hide out until the cavalry comes.

 

The two biggest problems with SAFE HOUSE have to do with its two secrets. One has to do with a mole at the CIA who is feeding information to someone in South Africa about the location of Weston and Frost, so that the mercenaries can find them. There was never any doubt in my mind who the leak was; it was so obvious, in fact, that I thought it was a false lead. But no, it's just that damn obvious. The second issue has to do with Washington being pitched to us by the CIA as a "bad guy." I never bought this, and I always suspected that when all was revealed, his intentions for acquiring this information would be revealed as a worthy cause. It's not that Washington can't play or hasn't been cast as a villain before, but this movie didn't seem clever enough to pull that off.

 

But SAFE HOUSE isn't a total bust—not even close. What's going on between Reynolds and Washington is great stuff... at least when it sticks to their battle of wits. The girlfriend subplot with Reynolds is a complete waste of time and an unnecessary distraction that never goes anywhere. True, Frost uses Weston's emotional vulnerability regarding his significant other as part of the psychological warfare against him, but entirely too much screen time is devoted to Weston trying to find time to call her or reassure her he's alright, even though he can't reveal what his job is (which we know he will before the story is done). There's a scene where Frost paints a picture of Weston's future (or lack thereof) with his girlfriend that is damn near perfect, and gives us our best example of Frost working the mental, as well as the physical, angles with Weston.

 

Faring slightly better is Washington as Frost, who has pretty much all of the fat cut away from his character development, leaving a coiled and dangerous man whose brain is always spinning and is constantly looking for a way to escape Weston. Frost is painted as a long-gone operative who has spent the last 10 years betraying his government for money, and I'm fairly certain that part of his background isn't fiction. I liked that the film didn't attempt to paint with broad strokes Frost's reason for turning traitor for hire; instead, the script by David Guggenheim leaves a lot of murky water surrounding Frost as a person and a misguided patriot.

 

Of course, a great deal of SAFE HOUSE is focused on action — gun battles, car chases, explosions and a whole lot of close-quarters, hand-to-hand fighting, which were my favorite moments in the film. Much like in the recent Haywire or the Jason Bourne movies, this film's emphasis on up-close, skilled fighting provide it with some of the best moments. But so much of SAFE HOUSE seems over-produced, stylized to unnecessary extremes and obvious that it's impossible to whole-heartedly recommend you check it out. Weirdly enough, all of this clutter makes the film feel routine and, dare I say, safe. Personally, I consider any new Denzel Washington movie cause to get excited; the man doesn't know how to phone it in, and he certainly doesn't do that here. But when a great performer has to constantly fight against over-saturated colors and hand-held messes like this one, we're not seeing him at his best.

[Rufae]

Saw this movie this past weekend....

 

I enjoyed it overall. Interesting plot and well executed.

 

The director was obviously trying to keep the audience awake and on the edge of their seat with A LOT of bullet-shots out of the blue and car collisions from no where. My wife was so nerve-wracked towards the end that she practically jumped in my lap. (so good date movie?)

 

***PLOT POINT MINOR SPOILER***

The review above got one point wrong. The data file that Frost has is not just a list of undercover operatives, it is a list of CORRUPT agents and adminsitrators in all of the secret organizations worldwide. That is why he was being hunted and why it made the ending so powerful.

 

***END SPOILER***

 

Also the above review wants to minimize the girlfirend, but her role was pivotal in showing how Westin changed during the course of the movie as well as show what he has to give up. I don't think it was wasted.

 

It was a fun movie and it definitely keeps you awake. Not too heavy on deep plot but this kind doesn't need to be.