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• Critic rating
• Currently 4/5 Stars.

Movies.ie Critic Review

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SAFE HOUSE (USA/15A/115mins)

Directed by Daniel Espinosa. Starring Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Brendan Gleeson, Vera Farmiga, Sam Shepard, Ruben Blades, Liam Cunningham, Robert Patrick.

THE PLOT: A rogue CIA agent who has been trading intel for the last ten years, the legendary Tobin Frost (Washington) is in Cape Town, coming into possession of a top-secret file that instantly has heavy-armed goons on his tail. And so, he turns himself in at the US Embassy, locking rival CIA heavyweights David Barlow (Gleeson) and Catherine Linklater (Farmiga) into a race to wheel him in. Shipped to a safe house, where untested CIA agent Matt Weston (Reynolds) has been sitting pretty, and bored, for 12 months, Frost is just enjoying his first round of waterboarding when 12 gun-toting, grenade-throwing grunts come knocking. Soon, Weston and Frost are on the run…

THE VERDICT: Pretty much Tony Scott’s Midnight Run, with the pedal to the metal, Safe House is surprisingly effective. Not that you would expect anything less than watchable from its leading man, Washington here as sublime as ever. Reynolds too does a fine job, going some ways to making up for last year’s disastrous, career-wobbling double-bill of The Green Lantern and The Change-Up. As spy vs spy thrillers go, Safe House doesn’t necessarily bring anything new to the interrogation table, but it does deliver its spills and thrills with admirable style and speed. The action never lets up here, and there’s enough smart dialogue amidst all the flashy crash, bang, wallop to keep you merrily hooked throughout. Just the sort of film you need to clean the palette after all that festival arse. RATING: 4/5

Review by Paul Byrne 

• Avg User rating
• Currently 3/5 Stars.

User Reviews

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  darthrodney

  

  A good tense relentless thriller, nothing really too original at play here, and some predictable plot moves. The direction is visceral and kinetic with a relentless pace which is one of the main things along with Reynolds and Washington’s performance that keep you engaged throughout. Enjoyable and satisfying.

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  Marty hanratty

  

  The film starts out fast and rarely lets up. I found myself rooting for Reynolds the entire movie and against Washington, of course until the end. Both actors played their roles phenomenall

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  1conor

  

• • Currently 2/5 Stars.

  Jennyburke102

  

  I thought this film was so boring and I love BOTH actors beyond belief ...it was just so long and drawn out ..I didnt like or feel for anybody ...I was just like please end about an hour into it

• • Currently 1/5 Stars.

  Onionhead

  

  Even the combined charisma of Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds can't make Safe House seem like anything other than the derivative and unengaging nonsense that it is.

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  Beth

  

  Fairly predictable story line but the action is good and Ryan Reynolds is always a pleasure to watch.

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  barber05

  

  great movie.....

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  vepyewwo

  

  I quite enjoyed this, decent action and plot but I found it a little slow in places and the ending was a bit predictable. Washington and Reynolds were a good onscreen team. Not the best action film ever but worth a look.

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  clivebb

  

  Class film, really gripping. Stands out for me on the recent releases a step up in film making. Go and see it you will not be dissapointed

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  Chad

  

  Good story, if a bit predictable and some decent action. Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington work great together on screen. Worth the watch!

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  vu1999uk

  

  Good solif thriller, if not a bit predicatble and not really overly interesting. The two leads are as always watchable and the action scenes are good.

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  mart

  

  Director Daniel Espinosa shows his fondness for Tony Scott's shaky-cam tint-o-rama method of directing. Choppy editing, a shaky camera and darkened daytime scenes are annoying, especially when combined with a weak script and predictable characters.

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  filmbuff2011

  

  Denzel Washington continues to mine his many talents for another morally ambiguous role in Safe House. It's a solid, slickly efficient action thriller that starts quickly and doesn't slow down until the last few minutes. He plays a rogue CIA agent who turns himself in after disappearing for a number of years. Ryan Reynolds is the rookie CIA agent assigned to take him to a safe house. Then all hell breaks loose, as both men are hunted down by shadowy operatives. Making excellent use of his colourful Cape Town and South African locations, director Daniel Espinosa crafts some blistering fight sequences and shoot-outs. There's also some fine rapport between the two leads, as we wonder if Reynolds will "turn" and go rogue himself. As Claudia Winkleman and Danny Leigh pointed out on Film 2012 this week, you may feel exhausted by the end of it. However, that shouldn't put you off what is otherwise an enjoyable and worthwhile trip to the cinema.

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  blade803

  

  I went into this movie with high hopes and I wasn't disappointed, both washington and reynolds are on top form in this, it's very action packed with denzel kicking lots of ass, as does reynolds and they both do a fine job with too, the only problem I had at times was some of the shaky camera scenes but nothing to major, I definitely recommend seeing this, overall an excellent movie.

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  eliza64

  

  I worry sometimes that this sort of thing happens in the real world. I hope it does not. Still I loved this film a bromance I guess I would call it. Spy stories are all the rage this is much better then tinker tailer though not as funny as Jonny English. Fast pased and suprising a must see movie. Thank you Ifta for the award sorry I mean tickets.

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