Safe House
People always rave about Denzel Washington's Oscar winning performance in Training Day but for me the movie I've always held in high regard is Man On Fire. Creasy, his character in Man on Fire was a man with so much pain over what he had done in his life till then that he nearly kills himself. Then Dakota Fanning's Pita enters his life and redeems him, perhaps offering a little penance for his life. So when she is kidnapped, Creasy does fight to the death to stop it from going down. He is shot several times and lays on death's door. When he is able to move again, he learns that the kidnappers have killed Pita. The rest of the movie is Creasy's masterwork of death and destruction. He kills, explodes, and makes life impossible for the kidnappers until they offer Pita back alive. What I love about this movie is the time and effort the filmmakers take in showing the relationship that grows between Creasy and Pita until they rip it away from you and like Creasy, you revel in watching them pay. It is one of the finest examples of a revenge movie I've ever seen. Training Day to me is a story about a bad man, who remains bad throughout and the only reason the movie goes anywhere is that Denzel carries you on his shoulders through the movie. He has that charisma that can make you want to follow him on his journey. So when I saw the preview for the movie Safe House, I was torn. Was it going to be a great movie that is only great because of Denzel or was it gonna be a great movie that is great because of Denzel and the story. After seeing it, I will tell you that it is a little more Training Day and a little less Man On Fire. Not a bad great movie but a good movie.
The movie also stars Ryan Reynolds as a CIA safe house operator who is itching for action and adventure. Upset that he is stuck in a safe house in South Africa, he is wining and dining a woman who knows nothing of who he actually is and dying of boredom at his job. As a guy who watches TV and occasionally rents a storage unit for a living, I can relate. Then comes Tobin Frost, a man so legendary as a killer and super spy who has gone rogue, is forced to turn himself in to the American Embassy to save his life and the files he carries in a small chip in his thigh. The CIA wants to bring him in and while they are waiting for the necessary support, they task Reynolds to hold him in his safe house while they interrogate him. Of course, things go amiss at the very unsafe house and Reynolds is forced to take Tobin on the run. Throughout the movie, Frost will attempt to escape from him, flee the CIA and get the files to the highest bidder. Reynolds' Matt Weston simply wants to be the man who brought Tobin Frost to justice.
Ryan Reynolds is one of my favorite actors today. He has a great ability to bring humor to every role. He could probably make the Billy Bob Thorton character from Monster's Ball, a happy prankster. Yet what Ryan Reynolds can also do is add gravity to scenes and imbues the audience with the need for his character to succeed. Denzel and Reynolds interact with quiet force, not saying a lot but every word from Denzel's mouth is set to shape the impressionable Weston to believe what Frost knows and to cultivate the next Tobin Frost. It is how one might think it would be like having The Dread Pirate Roberts teach Westley to be the Dread Pirate Roberts. Denzel is a force of nature in this movie and you can never see a moment when he is out of control. For his part, Reynolds is smart and counters most everything that Denzel tries to do. That he would be a great agent is without a doubt but his idealism into how things actually work seems to be what holds him back. Brendan Gleeson as Matt's confidant and father figure and Vera Farmiga as a CIA operative push the story from Washington D.C. and keep Reynolds on the case. The entire movie is a mystery thrill ride that never slows. Safe House fights hard to have a great story and falls a little short. Yes, Denzel is amazing, especially when moving like a human storm, unstoppable and unkillable. Yes, Reynolds is a character you want to root for. The conspiracy storyline is all I have to quibble with because it is not fleshed out and seems to be just a device to move the Frost/Weston story. I liked the movie and was happy that it met with all the expectations I had built up for it. It was not Man on Fire but it was a very passable Training Day. Sometimes you have to be OK with that and I am.
Mr. Unhappy sez: When in doubt as to whether you want to see this movie, be like Denzel and bang bang... pimp across to the theater.
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