Movie Review: "Safe House"

Safe House
Directed by: Daniel Espinosa

Starring: Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga, 

Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard
Rated: R for strong violence throughout and some language

With heart-pumping action and some psychological twists, Daniel Espinosa's thriller Safe House is a fun ride that's only drawback is not living up to it's own potential.  The movie follows Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds), a CIA operative who is stuck at a dead-end position working in a safe house in the middle of Cape Town, South Africia.  That is, until the day that a dangerous rouge CIA operative named Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) turns himself in, and is transported to Weston's safe house, which is, of course, attacked shortly thereafter, forcing Weston to take Frost and go on the run from the assassins chasing them.  As if hiding from these criminals wasn't enough, Weston also has to try to keep Frost from escaping or, even worse, turning on the CIA for fear that one of them is in on the attack.  As mind-bending as this may seem, the film never gets to the depth of the latter two Bourne films, and seemingly never fleshes out the potential between Frost and Weston.  From the very beginning, the movie spends too much time with Frost, makes him too likeable, not mysterious enough, and doesn't play the depth of mind games that he could with Weston. Besides that (and the fact that the true villain is obvious throughout the film), Safe House is a action-packed thrill ride that packs some hard punches and some interesting questions that forces us to deal with black-and-white morality in the middle of life-and-death situations.