Today’s quick review: Safe House. When Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington), a rogue CIA agent, is captured in South Africa, the Agency takes him to a nearby safe house for interrogation. But an assault on the facility leaves only Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds), the rookie agent in charge of the safe house, alive to look after Tobin. On the run from the attackers, Matt must keep his dangerous prisoner alive and in custody until the CIA can send backup.
Safe House is an action thriller with a strong lead duo and solid execution. While the plot revolves around the same elements as most spy thrillers, Safe House tweaks the formula just enough to make it feel novel. Matt Weston is much lower on the Agency totem pole than most spy protagonists, and the simple task of taking care of a prisoner proves much more complicated than it first appears.
The two lead actors give Safe House a bit of star power and make its characters a cut above the standard action thriller’s. Ryan Reynolds plays Matt Weston, a novice agent who has trouble coming to grips with the moral ambiguity of actual spy work. Denzel Washington plays opposite him as Tobin Frost, a former spy who has enough tricks up his sleeve to make him a troublesome prisoner. Their relationship is a complicated sort rarely attempted in action films.
The action is standard for the genre: car chases, gunfights, and visceral hand-to-hand struggles. While not particularly innovative, the sudden bursts of violence keep the tension level high, an external source of uncertainty to add to Weston’s own niggling doubts. The plot has a nice progression, a focused look at one CIA agent and the mission that has been thrust upon him.
Watch Safe House if you are looking for a well-executed thriller with just enough quality to separate it from its peers. Though not a deep or groundbreaking movie, Safe House has enough entertainment value to be worth a watch when a craving for its genre hits.
6.8 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 7.0 for a satisfying, tidy take on the thriller genre.