Safe House - (February 10rd, 2012): R
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Opening Weekend Box Office: #2 with $40,172,720
Domestic Box Office Gross to-date: $51,712,035
Gross Revenue: $61,912,035
Production Budget: $85 million
Director: Daniel Espinosa
If you consider his vast and diverse film career, there are few actors as successful, celebrated, or recognizable as Denzel Washington, so his presence in any film virtually guarantees a strong audience and high quality. However, after 2010’s lackluster entries The Book of Eli and Unstoppable, the talented actor hasn’t been top-of-mind for moviegoers for a while, so his inclusion in a new action thriller alongside rising star Ryan Reynolds seemed primed to pique everyone’s curiosity. When it comes to Ryan Reynolds, I doubt anyone will ever forget him as Van Wilder, but while he has tried to expand his characterization beyond sarcastic and charismatic funnyman, he has had a number of recent missteps, including Buried, Green Lantern, and The Change-Up…plain-and-simple, Safe House would be a much-needed chance for redemption. At the very least, Universal Pictures would be banking on these two recognizable faces pumping some energy into the spy thriller genre and selling tickets, which has not had that much of an impact outside of the highly-successful Bourne series. Clearly different from anything currently at the theater, especially with a glut of family and romance entries surrounding Valentine’s Day, it looked like Safe House had as good a chance as any of shaking up the box office and defying expectations.
Set in Cape Town, South Africa, Safe House introduces audiences to Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington), and ex-CIA agent who meets with a rogue MI6 agent and purchases a classified file; this traitorous act immediately makes Frost the target of the brutal mercenaries who were tracking the MI6 operative. In order to escape, Frost surrenders to the American embassy, thereby quickly popping up on the CIA database and warranting immediate removal to a CIA safe house, which is run by low-level agent Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds). Weston is informed by his superiors that Frost is a high-priority target that has been on the run for years while selling damaging government secrets, thereby putting this inexperienced “housekeeper” at the center of a government scandal; however, Weston’s levity related to this important assignment is soon shattered when the same mercenaries who were chasing Frost breach the safe house and kill all the agents inside. Narrowly escaping with Frost in his custody, Weston is contacted by his mentor, Sam Barlow (Brendan Gleeson), and CIA official Catherine Linkater (Vera Farmiga), both of whom order him to stay off-grid until an extraction team can be mobilized. Clearly troubled by the breach of a supposedly secured facility, Weston begins to question who he can trust, all while trying to dodge violent mercenaries and maintain Frost, a master manipulator who has more than his share of secrets.
Offering a surprisingly high-level of action and suspense, Safe House is bolstered by strong acting and injects some much-needed adrenaline into the spy genre. In addition to bloody and brutal hand-to-hand combat, the narrative throws enough car chases and explosions around to keep audiences on the edge of their seats…anytime you think things might be slowing down or that the dialogue is beginning to drag, you are never more than five seconds away from something violent happening. While I was initially skeptical of funnyman Ryan Reynolds playing a believable spy, he dominates the role, delivering an intensity that has not been seen since Matt Damon first introduced an amnesic superspy. In terms of chemistry between lead actors, Denzel and Reynolds work remarkably well-together, with sinister manipulation and idealistic innocence blending for a deep character study between the two government operatives. Unfortunately, beyond flashy and distracting action and a strong performance from Reynolds, Safe House has some pretty glaring weaknesses.
When I first walked out of the theater, I was raving about the quality of Safe House, but once the excitement wore off and I started to think, I could not help but notice the weak and predictable storyline and the underuse of a veteran actor. While the billing and advertisements would have to you thinking that Denzel would dominate the screen, he serves as more of a secondary character, one who is talked about more than actually seen and receives little character development. In terms of script, the story progression and “conspiracy” are razor-thin, with any twists offered being easily visible from a mile away…I realize that the volume of movies I see warrants some qualification to that claim, but trust me, venture a guess and you will probably be right. I commented earlier about how the film kept mystery intact, but one too many questions were ultimately left unanswered, making have sat through the shaky camerawork a little too anticlimactic. While I wouldn’t go as far as describing the film as mindless entertainment, an awful lot of flaw is hidden behind a glossy sheen, none of which absolutely has to be seen by devoted moviegoers.
Opening up against The Vow on Valentine’s Day weekend, a second place finish for Safe House is anything but surprising…it is the sheer volume of theater attendance across the board for the four new releases that is astounding. Safe House took in just over $40 million for second place, just behind The Vow and well ahead of the respectable $20 million+ performances of family crowd pleasers like Star Wars: Episode I 3D and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Time and again I have commented on the historically low draw of the February box office, so you can imagine my surprise concerning the weekend numbers…Denzel can undoubtedly draw a crowd, but analysts have to be surprised at the film’s performance beyond projections. Despite some weaker points, word of mouth has still been very positive, so I don’t think the release of Ghost Rider: The Spirit of Vengeance this weekend will threaten Universal’s chances of recovering the production budget. So, in the end, it is up to you…Safe House is far from perfect, but if you can look past a weak story, I guarantee that you will still be entertained.
Overall Recommendation: Medium
