The term ‘intelligent action flick’ may be an oxymoron to some people. Normally an action flick is a shoot ‘em up style of film with some explosions thrown in for good measure. Storyline and characterization just aren’t that important. Luckily Safe House changes all that. Yes there are explosions and lots of gun-play but the screenwriter also threw in a few things commonly known as storyline and suspense.
Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds – The Change-Up, Green Lantern) is a CIA agent who feels he is trapped looking after a ‘safe-house’ in South Africa that is never used. He really wants to be in an exciting job in Europe so he can relocate to be with his girlfriend, Ana (Nora Arnezeder – The Words, La Croisiere) but it seems his boss, David Barlow (Brendan Gleeson – The Cup, Albert Nobbs) can’t do anything to help him.
Then Matt’s world is turned upside down when wanted-fugitive and former spy Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington – Unstoppable, The Book Of Eli) hands himself in and turns up at Weston’s safe-house, much to the excitement of Barlow and fellow agent, Catherine Linklater (Vera Farmiga – Source Code, Higher Ground). But when the safe-house is attacked Matt finds himself on the run with Tobin while trying to protect him, unsure of who is attacking them.
Director, Daniel Espinosa (Easy Money, Outside Love) allows this film to deliver on both levels. He assaults the sensations of the audience with some full-on action and enough suspense to make sure that you are on the edge of your seat for nearly the entire 2 hours running time. But together with his screenwriter, David Guggenheim (Exit Strategy) he also remembers that one of the key things to this working is the relationship between Frost and Weston. The film doesn’t skim over that fact and instead explores the fact that these two end up having to trust each other in an extraordinary situation… and once again that leads to our old friend, suspense!
Guggenheim also needs to be congratulated for being brave enough to touch on some pretty gritty topics. Rendition raises it’s ugly head as does the fact that it seems that the CIA believe they are above the laws of other countries worldwide. Luckily the script works and never becomes preachy.
Safe House also works due to some great performances from Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds really steps up and announces himself as an unlikely action hero. He is perfectly cast here as the naïve guy who is forced to become gun-ho, while Denzel Washington just seems to get better and better with age. The guy is now 57 and as the chase in the slum-area showed can still move like a 20 year old…amazing.
Safe House is surprisingly good. It’s an action film for the intelligent cinemagoer and won’t disappoint.
Year: 2011
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Stars: Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Nora Arnezeder
Classification: M
Runtime: 115 mins
Rating: 