Safe
House
follows an inexperienced CIA agent accustomed to twiddling his thumbs at a safe
house and Tobin Frost, a traitorous super spy looking to protect his very
important data chip. The male-dominated cast did a successful job in creating a
mostly entertaining story that follows the premise of many of Denzel
Washington's most current action films, from the storyline down to the
cinematography. Don't expect any surprises; this film is predictable to the
end, despite the writers apparently having a slight case of A.D.D.
The
opening scenes could have been shortened and used more effectively to establish
the film. The plot for Safe House
feels like a mash-up of several different action movie clichés with the lovely
surprise of being set in South Africa instead of Latin America or Europe. The
cinematography follows the apparently very trendy style generally seen in Tony
Scott films "“ earth tones, darker colors, slightly grainy picture quality, and
quick scene cuts.
The
fight scenes were well choreographed, but the camera work was literally shaky,
which is one of my pet peeves. It may make the film more gritty and "real", but
I prefer not feeling like I'm on a boat. The amount of overkill in some of the
sequences is more nauseating than anything else "“ particularly when you hear
the audience cheering it on. I had expected a few more explosions, but those
were surprisingly few and far between.
Denzel
Washington portrays the jaded and more experienced operative as well as he has
in every other action film that he's been in. Ryan Reynolds shows that he still
knows how to be wide-eyed and confused looking. Remarkably, it works with this
character, the newbie operative desperate for field experience. Safe House's
saving grace is that it's an action movie coming out the weekend before
Valentine's Day. If you're hoping to talk your significant other into going,
well, it'll depend on their taste in movies.
