MOVIE REVIEW - Safe House

Denzel Washington is back again this winter, and this year it's Safe House.

Washington like Liam Neeson, has sort of reinvented himself as this cold weather action hero. I loved Washington in The Book Of Eli, and in last years Unstoppable. Both were surprise hits, good stories and well done. Oh, let's not forget Training Day! - Oscar winner for him.

But Safe House is another matter. None of this is really Washington's fault. Although he did have a hand in producing this, the writing is none of his affair. If you are looking strictly for a non stop action movie, than this is your flick. Safe House is almost all action.

It's the story of Tobin Frost (Washington). Frost is a rogue CIA agent that has been on the loose for about a decade. He supposedly betrayed the CIA and almost all other Western Intelligence agencies, and now he is in the secret selling business. Frost is this super agent with an amazing smarts and manipulation skills, and terrific physical skills too. Too bad we seldom if ever get to see any of them. We have to take the movies word for it, and that's the gigantic hole right down middle of this movie.

Ryan Reynolds plays a young CIA agent bent on making name for himself. So after Frost turns himself in to the American Consulate in South Africa, our young agent finds himself with the dubious task of bringing Frost in. But there are huge mountains to climb. Seems everyone on earth is after them, and trying to kill them. Can they make it? Who can they trust, anyone?

This next sentence is not a spoiler. Because you will be light years ahead of this movie. You will know right away what and who the trouble is. But the movie doesn't think you're that smart. And that's another big hole. They think they are being subtle, but they are not. In the end this ends up begin another CIA gone wrong movie where they think they are weaving a complicated web, but all they are really doing is tangling up two hours to bring you to a finish you knew an hour and a half ago.

Going one step further, without Washington's amazing screen presence, this is total wash out. He does give some credibility to this over done, and tired script and plot line.

Safe House. Big action. Big Star. Bigger disappointment.