Mini Review
A frustrated CIA Agent, Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) receives a new charge into his safe house in Cape Town - former CIA Agent gone rogue, Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington). It soon transpires that the reason Frost is there is because he handed himself in to the US consulate in South Africa to escape some rather unsavory people who were after him. They soon find him though which forces Weston and Frost to team up and go on the run together.
It's been a while since I saw Safe House (slowly catching up on reviews - apologies to my regular readers) and to be honest I think there was a subconscious reason I didn't get round to this review. Not because of the film, just some unresolved issues I have that this film reminds me of. I digress as usual. What I was trying to say is that I don't really remember it all that well.
All I can really recall is that there were a LOT of twists and turns in this movie. Probably more than were necessary. By the end I wasn't sure if up was down or if left was right. It seems that the producers wanted to keep their audience on the edge of their seats, but instead they just lost their audience about half way through.
The performances were okay. I personally don't subscribe to the notion that Denzel Washington is a great actor. I think he can be. But I think the majority of his performances are just a little OTT. And this is one of them. Reynolds is good but overshadowed by Washington's hammy performance, a script that is somewhat lacking and a confusing plot. Farmiga, Gleeson and Patrick all provide decent support but then they pretty much always do.
I wasn't intending to bad-mouth Safe House when I started out so let me finish by saying that this is a perfectly acceptable Saturday night popcorn movie. It just won't leave a lasting impression. 6 out of 10.
Viewing Date - 25th February 2012
UK Release Date - 24th February 2012
Cast Overview:
Denzel Washington ~ Tobin Frost
Ryan Reynolds ~ Matt Weston
Vera Farmiga ~ Catherine Linklater
Brendan Gleeson ~ David Barlow
Sam Shepard ~ Harlan Whitford
Robert Patrick ~ Daniel Kiefer
Liam Cunningham ~ Alec Wade
Director ~ Daniel Espinosa
Writer ~ David Guggenheim
