Safe House

Rating: 3/5

January and February are, figuratively speaking, the "dump months." This term refers to the fact that January and February see the most releases of bad action and horror films. A prime example was in 2010, when movies in these months included Legion, The Book of Eli, and Splice. Early 2011 featured Jonah Hex, Cowboys & Aliens, and Priest. However, not all Jan/Feb movies are bad; I'm sure there are a couple good ones. All in all, Safe House.

CIA rookie Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) hates his job; he's stuck inside all day watching a hardly-used safe house in Cape Town. Wishing for a promotion and more time with his hot girlfriend, Matt's life is boring. That is until the agency brings Matt his first "guest," notorious CIA traitor Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington). While waiting for a routine pickup, shadowy mercenaries break into the safe house and kill everyone but Matt and Frost. Now the two must survive Cape Town and each other.

Very few action movies also manage to be psychological thrillers. Some, like Blood Diamond and the Bourne Movies do, but most that try get lost. Thankfully, Safe House skirts between the two genres to last ninety minutes. There are still glaring problems, like no character development, too much shaky cam, and some rather boring scenes, but it's cohesive enough and never bugged me two much. Don't get me wrong, some parts are just dumb, but it's a fun ride overall.

Safe House is actually a surprisingly well made film. Even though the action scenes don't make a whole lot of sense, they are fun to watch. The acting is another story. I've seen Ryan Reynolds do a much better job in silly action movies; he just seems bored here. And Denzel Washington? Oy vey, Denzel Washington. The man has tons of charisma but he's been playing the same character for years. I wouldn't even call his character Tobin Frost, more like Denzel Washington if He Was a Secret Agent.

This is a hard review to end. The film I'm addressing today just didn't leave a huge impression. I saw it and I've moved on. Safe House isn't terrible, nor is it fantastic. It's just an action movie, more of an Under Siege than a Bloodsport. What I mean is that it won't tarnish anyone's career or be shown as part of a retrospective of classic action films. Safe House is, love it or hate it, just a goofy action movie, and that's all.