Safe House

For some people, movies where Denzel Washington plays a modern day gangster are getting old. For others, watching Denzel out-smart and out-gun everyone else in a fast past action thriller never gets old.  I'm definitely part of the Denzel fan club. I thought in the movie "Safe House", Washington made up for what was another terrible performance by Ryan Reynolds to take what was a cool plot, and it make it into a decent movie.

What makes "Safe House" a good movie is also about, what I thought was, a great script. Although we have seen Washington in this role many times before, this time, the multiple twists and turns that this movie takes make it good. When the movie begins, Washington's character is a rogue agent that is wanted by the CIA. for many different crimes he has committed. As the plot unfolds we soon learn that Tobin Frost (Washington) is actually running from what is one of the biggest cases of corruption in CIA history.

Of course there is a fair share of Denzel shooting his way out of sticky situations and also out-smarting everyone that he comes across. However I thought the best part of the movie was the major plot twist at the end that has the head of the CIA's mission to capture Frost, actually being the corrupt individual all along. Despite acting like a good citizen the entire movie, David Barlow ends up being the reason why Frost went rogue in the first place. All of this is well over Ryan Reynolds' characters head, and he doesn't know what he has gotten himself into, until everything is finally revealed at the end of the film. Since we see the movie from Reynolds' prospective,  the audience is kept in the dark the entire time as well. The ending really ended up being one of the better endings I've seen in this types of action-mystery movies recently.

Despite getting Denzel Washington's typical performance, I don't really understand why Ryan Reynolds continues to try to break into the action movie category. Not that he was terrible in this movie, he just isn't an action movie star. It's not my taste, but he belongs in those romantic comedies that we typically see him doing. He really is pretty decent in those roles. He wasn't a terrible choice for this role, but he clearly didn't belong in an action movie with Denzel Washington.

All and all I'd recommend this movie to someone looking for something new. It's not an unbelievable movie, but Denzel Washington movies are always great to watch.