It's nothing you haven't seen before.
This may contain spoilers.
I wanted to like this. I really did. I love Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds is good enough not to be type-casted while still holding onto his own style.
Unfortunately, nothing works here.
This movie is incredibly simple to summarize, due to it's simplicity. Ryan Reynolds plays a caretaker of a Safe House. He's a CIA agent trying to prove himself, and that chance comes when Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington, and the only character who's name I can even remember) is caught through some suspiciously specific circumstances comes his way.
Sounds cool, right? It's not.
Specifically? It's nothing we haven't seen. Corrupt government, predictable plot points and you'll figure out who the bad guy is halfway through the movie, which takes away some of it's sting. It predictably tried to make us think the woman-agent (I don't even know their names) was working against the office but it wasn't, because the movie pressed to much into her "hardass" attitude. It wasn't believable.
The biggest disappointment was the whole plot point, the MOVIE'S TITLE, was barely utilized. I went in expecting a psychological thriller, maybe 60-75% of the movie taking place in the Safe House as Tobin Frost messes with the minds of everyone around him. That's what the trailers implied anyway. I got no such thing.
Instead, the Safe House is broken into within minutes of Frost entering the building. There's a second safe house later in the movie and it, too, serves little point except the placeholder of the climax. All in all? I doubt we get 10 minutes worth of what is supposed to be the movie's title. Frankly, the movie should have been renamed.
Let's not forget that Frost barely proves his reputation, which we get in a quick scene of exposition as it explains that he "rewrote interrogation protocol" or something. At most, he says about four mindscrewing lines to Reynolds' character, and not much happens with it.
It just felt everything this movie was supposed to be was abandoned.
That's what I didn't like. The fight scenes were fine, the actors were fine, even (some of the) writing was fine. But when I left I found it difficult to like this movie.
To read my other reviews, go here [http://www.imdb.com/user/ur14397406/comments].
This may contain spoilers.
I wanted to like this. I really did. I love Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds is good enough not to be type-casted while still holding onto his own style.
Unfortunately, nothing works here.
This movie is incredibly simple to summarize, due to it's simplicity. Ryan Reynolds plays a caretaker of a Safe House. He's a CIA agent trying to prove himself, and that chance comes when Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington, and the only character who's name I can even remember) is caught through some suspiciously specific circumstances comes his way.
Sounds cool, right? It's not.
Specifically? It's nothing we haven't seen. Corrupt government, predictable plot points and you'll figure out who the bad guy is halfway through the movie, which takes away some of it's sting. It predictably tried to make us think the woman-agent (I don't even know their names) was working against the office but it wasn't, because the movie pressed to much into her "hardass" attitude. It wasn't believable.
The biggest disappointment was the whole plot point, the MOVIE'S TITLE, was barely utilized. I went in expecting a psychological thriller, maybe 60-75% of the movie taking place in the Safe House as Tobin Frost messes with the minds of everyone around him. That's what the trailers implied anyway. I got no such thing.
Instead, the Safe House is broken into within minutes of Frost entering the building. There's a second safe house later in the movie and it, too, serves little point except the placeholder of the climax. All in all? I doubt we get 10 minutes worth of what is supposed to be the movie's title. Frankly, the movie should have been renamed.
Let's not forget that Frost barely proves his reputation, which we get in a quick scene of exposition as it explains that he "rewrote interrogation protocol" or something. At most, he says about four mindscrewing lines to Reynolds' character, and not much happens with it.
It just felt everything this movie was supposed to be was abandoned.
That's what I didn't like. The fight scenes were fine, the actors were fine, even (some of the) writing was fine. But when I left I found it difficult to like this movie.
To read my other reviews, go here [http://www.imdb.com/user/ur14397406/comments].
