Directed by: Daniel Espinosa
Starring: Denzel Washington & Ryan Reynolds
Rating: ★½
I am a huge Denzel Washington fan, one of my favourite films being Déjà Vu, and so I actively try to watch as many as his star vehicles as I can. This is why it pains me to have to say that I was incredibly disappointed by Safe House, an underwhelming, weak and lifeless offering. At the bare minimum, you expect action packed excitement, and a strong central performance from Washington himself, and while it did deliver this, much of the tension and thrills were ruined by terrible frenetic editing and an incredibly unnecessarily overcomplicated and feeble plot.
The general gist of it is that in Cape Town, South Africa, Tobin Frost (Washington) an ex-CIA agent turned criminal acquires a file from an MI6 agent, and is then hunted by a gang of contract killers, so turns himself in to the American Embassy for safety and is immediately taken to a ‘safe house’, run by ‘housekeeper’ Matt Weston (Reynolds). They are then attacked, and go on the run from the killers, but don't trust one another.
 |
| Tobin Frost is not a nice man... |
We’ve seen it all before, and for something that is intended to be ‘thrilling’ it is far from it. Sure, there are moments of excitement when cars crash into on another in a chase through the city and people engage in gun fights and hand to hand combat. But the whole ‘exposing the government’ plot has been done to death, and knowing that there is a CIA mole, which was only interesting the first time round, in series one of 24, does not add anything to the plot, since the so called ‘twist’ can be seen coming from the outset, as it is terribly predictable and obvious. There are only two main supporting characters- it has to be one of them, and since the script tries everything it can to make you suspect only one of them, you know it will be the other one. You’d think that film makers and script writers would be more aware that modern audiences are genre savvy, and so can make well founded predictions.
 |
| Weston tries his hardest to catch Tobin... |
The acting is strong, as you would expect from Denzel, as he gives a solid, although throughly dislikeable performance, as his character is sleazy and sneaky. Since Reynold’s character is likeable and endearing, it’s hard not to root for him, which shouldn’t happen, as we all want to root for Denzel, since he’s the star! But as the villain, I guess we aren’t meant to like him that much anyway, but this kind of goes against the whole point of making him the selling point of the movie. He does get the best part, and savours every minute of it, and both of the leads get really good action sequences and fighting scenes, including the highlight of the film which centres around a chase through a football stadium (with added vuvuzelas)!
The worst part about Safe House, apart from the weak, tedious, un-thrilling and bland plot which is over complicated for no reason, has to be the editing. The editor, much like the one who edited Quantum Of Solace, must have also attended the Seizure School of Frantic Film Editing, because the choppy cuts mean you can’t really see what is happening, and this ruins many of the excellent action sequences, car chases and fights, and also destroys a lot of the excitement and tension, meaning that for a so called ‘thriller’ we don’t really get any comprehensibly constructed thrilling moments.
 |
| They don't like each other but they have to work together! |
Setting the film in Cape Town is a great idea, as the back drop is unique and looks great, and also adds a lot to the film, and the film makers make the most of the different sights, sounds and, of course, the slums.
Oh Denzel. How could you do this to me? I expected so much more from you, especially given your track record of making great movies. I think perhaps it’s time you did another film with Tony Scott, because it seems that he is the person that encourages you to make decent films. I just hope that you haven't peaked, and like Whoopi have decided to start making duds.
0 Yorumlar