Being a man is like living in the Banana Republic of Charles Darwin, sometimes. Guys will worship the most badass element without second guessing anything because we love to identify to and live through those who don't take shit. Because of that, we let a lot of shit slide. The movie SAFE HOUSE for example, it looks the part. Whoever pays twelve bucks for a movie starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds would expect a moderately well-written excuse to have them scrap for two hours, but it's unfortunately not the case. There is a gap between looking badass and being badass SAFE HOUSE slips right in between.
Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) is a living legend. A super duper badass CIA agent who's rewritten the book on spying and who happened to have betrayed the agency a decade ago, before vanishing from the face of the Earth. When Frost reemerges as a prisoner in a CIA safe house, prospect Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) barely escapes the ensuing massacre with his older, sneakier guest in tow. Someone wants to kill Tobin Frost for a reason that eludes Weston, but everybody is well-armed, mean mugging one another and they're going after the old man with all they have. There, I've almost spoiled the entire movie.
SAFE HOUSE pulls one of the oldest, cheapest tricks in the book on its viewers. A Ric Flair forearm to the suspension of disbelief. It never really tells you what it's about. Of course, you get to know what Tobin Frost has stolen in order to get murderous thugs after him, SAFE HOUSE never really takes the time to explain its implications. It's too busy crafting gritty scenes with over-saturated colour and mean-mugging dudes. It's not even a style over substance movie like JOHN WICK, it's a movie based on something that's never entirely revealed, like Edgar Allan Poe's Purloined Letter except that the file Tobin Frost stole isn't the point of the movie. The point is to show that Tobin Frost's a badass and that the CIA's a dangerous place to work at.
The Safe House in question is about 50 Shades of Blue.
So, I don't know exactly what SAFE HOUSE is trying to be, but it's at its best when it stomps on the break pedal and tries to be an actor movie. These scenes are never very long, but they are based on the clever idea that Denzel Washington is a far superior actor to Ryan Reynolds. It's important in the context of SAFE HOUSE, because Tobin Forest is supposed to be way smarter than Matt Weston (way smarter than anybody else, actually). So, the on-screen duality and the sort of rigidness of Reynolds, compared to the smooth comfort of Denzel on screen actually translates this idea very well. SAFE HOUSE anchors into these scenes, where character is revealed through the play of the two lead actors. It's just too bad that neither the director Daniel Espinosa or screenplay writer David Guggenheim seem to care about this particular wrinkle.
SAFE HOUSE is like that guy at the gym who judges you because he can bench press more. It looks great, but whenever it's under pressure to make something interesting happen it sags into cliché nondescript action movie tropes such as car chases and meaningless firefights. It's an interesting movie on paper, but the execution is nothing you've ever seen before and you'll finish the movie with the unpleasant impression that you've just thrown two hours of your life away. SAFE HOUSE isn't particularly stupid or poorly written, it's just a lazy movie that takes every shortcut in the book in order to fill its time slot. It's mass produced entertainment. There is no love there. If you were considering it for your Netflix nights, move along. On to the next one, like Jay-Z would say.