(IMDB Synopsis) A young CIA agent is tasked with looking after a fugitive in a safe house. But when the safe house is attacked, he finds himself on the run with his charge.Short Man's Rating: 7.5/10
To expand slightly on the above synopsis (without giving too much away) the film is set in Cape Town and follows Matt Weston (Ran Reynolds) the young CIA, almost naive, agent who is very career motivated and wants some action. Dropped on him is Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) a rogue CIA operative who is pretty much akin to the bogey man in the intelligence world and has many enemies due to what he does and knows. Weston is forced on the run with Frost and must solve the mystery of what is going on before they both meet their grizzly end. Gun battles ensue, car chases, some Bourne type quick reacting, spy games and back stabbing as our 2 main characters try to attain their respective goals - most of the time at odds while being no more then a few feet from each other.
Truth be told the premise is not really anything new, the twists happen when expected and the main reveal did not come as a shock at all - for those who have seen many a film you will likewise figure it out pretty early on, but this fact does not make the film any less enjoyable.
In my opinion fans of Denzel Washington will not be disappointed, fans of Ryan Reynolds will not be disappointed and fans of the action/thriller genre will not be disappointed. Great film!! In the hour and 55 min I did not find my attention wondering once, nor did I find myself thinking I'd seen this kind of thing before.
Washington once again delivers and makes the film what it is. Granted it's not once of his best or Oscar worthy performances but there is such a charisma and natural vibe to Denzel's performances which make him a pleasure to see on screen. Lets be honest most who have watched this did so because he is in it and as mentioned the story really isn't anything new but not many are these days. We look for how it is delivered and he delivers.
Reynolds continues his breakaway from comedy with yet another solid performance, doing really well along side his veteran counterpart and in a few instances almost stealing the scene.
From the get go our main characters are very well set-up and the film moves along at a great pace, bringing in the supporting characters at the right points with Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Vera Farmiga and Robert Patrick rounding out the casting nicely.
The end works out just as you would expect and this is the one thing that could been changed, not because it was bad but done slightly differently it would have added a great shock bringing this film up to another level and making the experience all that much better for you and I.
That being said as the first major feature the writer has done, and with a director with not much under his belt I am impressed with what we got.
Do you like action/thrillers? Yes, then watch this, the story is pretty good and the acting is great. Film production good, editing good, scenery good... just good.
Have fun.
