Movie Review: Denzel and Reynolds Play It Safe In SAFE HOUSE

Hold up. A movie review, Yeah I know you haven't seen one here for a while reason being I haven't watched a movie for quite some time, not a new one anyway. That's not helped by the fact that Euro 2012 has just started and you know me I just can't pull myself away from the Football. Any how I go to it on Saturday night as there was nothing on TV and the game that night didn't take my interest to much, I turned to my Blu-ray player for support and switched on Safe House an enjoyable but predictable movie which won't do you bad as a popcorn flick.

The Cast: Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Robert Patrick, Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson and Liam Cunningham.

The Plot

Ryan Reynolds plays Matt Weston a CIA operative who has just finished his training, his first post is based in Cape Town, South Africa where he is the controller of a CIA Safe House. The job is generally mondaying and Weston is desperate for a more front line role hassling his so called mentor David Barlow (Gleeson) for a move to the Paris branch. Things change for Weston with the ring of a phone, the Safe House is required for a prisoner who has just handed himself into the US Console in Cape Town, the prisoner is no ordinary one though, it's Tobin Frost (Washington) a former CIA agent who went rouge selling secrets to the enemy he has now been on the run for years, complications arise however when Weston and the CIA "briefing" team learn that maybe they aren't the only ones after Tobin Frost.

The Verdict

Safe House is what it is, an enjoyable action flick which doesn't require to much of your brain power, in fact it probably wouldn't stand up as just that if it wasn't for the efforts for the afore mentioned Washington and Reynolds. Washington can roll safe all day long playing the tough guy we've seen plenty examples of that in previous movies. Thing is Safe House has been done before many times in fact, how many times have you saw the plot of a CIA agent going rouge selling secrets and having more people than he cares to after him? I think it was about thirty minutes in and I had pretty much guessed what the outcome would be, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment.

Action is a plenty in Safe House, loads of guns and loads of kick ass fight scenes, as always a nod is thrown in the direction of all decent action movies with a car chase through Cape Town, which oddly enough ends just as you would expect it too. Don't let that put you off though Ryan Reynolds proves during this that he's no slouch and can dispatch plenty people on his own weather it be using his brilliant driving skills or just his brakes to thrown Washington into the dashboard before apprehending him.

If you've seen the Safe House trailer then you'll remember that the line ringing through from Washington "I'm already in your head", we learn in the movie that's because he was the best in the business at talking to and turning people in order to provide him with info, for want of a better word he was very good at recruiting snitches, he does try to get into the head of Reynolds and does to a certain extent especially where Weston's shady CIA counterparts are involved. For me the psychological battle was not all that intense I preferred seeing and hearing Denzel get into loggerheads with Travolta in The Taking of Pelham 1.2.3.

It's probably fortunate for that reason that Safe House does not rely on that side of the movie for your entertainment, the action tips the scales of balance here some of it more kick ass than others. Undoubtedly you are glued to the screen when both Washington and Reynolds are centre of attention, as for the rest of the cast... Well they weren't all that entertaining there attempts at the let's talk a lot and try to dramatise this a little were not up to that much and it's probably good for that reason that the focus is not really on them here. But, all said and done I enjoyed Safe House, it's the perfect Saturday night movie to sit down to with some popcorn and beer.

The Music

Safe House doesn't really rely on music throughout the film, if there was any music I don't really remember all that much about it, the enjoyment comes from the action sequences. As you would expect though, the credit music for a movie which is trying very hard to be uber cool comes from non other than Jay-Z and Kanye West featuring Frank Ocean, it's titled "No Church in the Wild" and you can check the official music video below.

Would I watch it again?

You know what? I think I would, there would be nothing to see that I missed first time round but I'm pretty sure Safe House can provide me with another two hours of quality entertainment.

MM&T Rating: MMM