Safe House tells the story of an uneasy alliance between Tobias Frost (Denzel Washington), the CIA’s most dangerous renegade and Matthew Weston (Ryan Reynolds), a rookie operative just waiting to prove his worth, and when a group of terrorists attack Weston’s safe house, it’s up to him and Frost to escape and find out who sent them and why.
This is the first major directorial role for Daniel Espinosa, and he should be proud of what he has accomplished.
Prior to this, Espinosa was virtually unknown to pretty much everyone except Sweden and Denmark, so at least his first step into the big leagues of cinema is a strong one.
In terms of casting, the role of Tobias Frost seems a little too easy for Washington, he seems to fly through it and deliver a good performance like it’s nothing. Ryan Reynolds is an excellent fit for the role of Matthew Weston – he’s honest, serious and likeable.
Although his part is a small one, Robert Patrick manages to solidly establish himself into the storyline. The most disappointing thing is that Brendan Gleeson and Vera Farmiga needed bigger parts than being on the other end of the phone.
What is good about Safe House is that, unlike most action thriller films where everything moves far too quickly for you to really keep track of, this offers up that well-known blend of pulse-pumping action, but also pauses every so often to develop the character further, for example, the ever-growing but unlikely chemistry between the two leads really helps Weston to get a grip and understand what he has become a part of.
With the action set to another excellent soundtrack from Ramin Djawadi, Safe House is an exciting crime movie overall, however, if it was put together better, it would be outstanding.
