Play it safe with Denzel Washington
"Safe House" delivers all out action, but no originality.
By Ben Goldschmidt | Published: 02/19/12 9:39pm | Updated: 02/19/12 9:39pm | No comments
You’ve seen this movie hundreds of times before.
There’s nothing new or unique about “Safe House,” but what it lacks in originality, it makes up for in execution. It’s an extremely well-done movie, with action of all sorts lurking around every corner.
“Safe House” hits the ground running, leaving the viewer confused, yet highly entertained. There is no slow build up or long and drawn out background information here. If you’re looking for a mind-bending plot with unpredictable twists and thrills, stay at home.
But if you’re looking for intense action, cat-and-mouse chases, and political meddling, set aside a few bucks for a ticket.
Who needs a compelling story when you have Denzel Washington kicking ass and taking names?
In “Safe House,” Denzel Washington does what he does best — he just does Denzel. For those who have seen him in anything else, you’ve seen him in this. His character, Tobin Frost, is an ex-CIA agent who predictably fell off the grid and now operates as a freelance badass by trade.
He’s got something the government doesn’t want him to have, and he falls into the lap of the inexperienced agent Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds).
Washington plays his usual cryptic character with an aptitude for being dangerous and making the audience root for him. I wasn’t disappointed, but it would have been refreshing to see Washington do something new.
I was, however, pleasantly surprised by Reynolds’ performance as the CIA rookie. Naturally, I want to hate him — he’s funnier than me, hotter than me and in this movie he proved that he is more badass than me as well — but in this movie he made a believer out of me.
Usually seen in lighthearted romantic comedies, here, Reynolds pulls off high-speed car chases, spontaneous firefights and a fistful of hand-to-hand combat scenes.
Nothing against Washington, but it’s nice to see an actor play more than one role well.
But maybe “Safe House” could have used a little more lighthearted romance.
That could have added a twist to it— or at least raised the emotional stakes a little bit.
At the beginning of the movie, for only about five minutes, Reynolds interacts with his girlfriend, but it is such a minor portion of the film that the audience will struggle to remember her name.
It’s as if her character was only added to the film in order to fill some sort of action movie checklist.
What holds this movie back is its lack of originality and general predictability.
If you’ve seen any action movies in the past few years, you can probably place some pretty safe bets on what will happen in this one.
With that aside, “Safe House” was well put together, very entertaining and featured Denzel being Denzel. In the end, that’s good enough for me.

