SAFE HOUSE: A Throwaway Thriller Not Even Worth The Price Of A Matinee

SAFE HOUSE (Dir. Daniel Espinosa, 2012)

Although he’s been making movies since the early ‘90s, it still feels like Ryan Reynolds is the new kid on the block. Especially here as a frantic rookie who is paired with the stoical pro Denzel Washington in this incredibly forgetful formulaic film.

The formula can be traced back to TRAINING DAY, and was recently retreaded in UNSTOPPABLE: the cool-as-ice Washington schools a wet-behind-the-ears white pretty boy through unfolding chaos.

This time, Washington is a CIA agent gone rogue sporting teased out hair and a goatee who is apprehended and placed in a safe house in Africa under Reynolds’ supervision. Washington is water boarded by CIA operatives (including Robert Patrick), but he withstands the torture, not giving up the secret file they’re after. Yep, that’s the film’s MacGuffin – a data file from an MI6 officialcontaining names of all the rogue agents in the world, that, of course, everybody is after.

So here we go with another ‘guess who’s the mole’ scenario, and only if you turn your brain completely off will you not figure it out.



After Washington escapes, there’s a scene in which he shaves and cuts his hair then flashes his trademark grin for the first time in the film. It’s such a self conscious movie star moment that I couldn’t help laughing.



However, the rest of the film rarely amuses. It’s a grainy mess of poorly-shot and horribly edited fight scenes and chases with some of the shakiest shaky-cam action I’ve ever seen.



Not only are Reynolds and Washington wasted in all this numbing noise, so are Brendan Gleason (doing a coarse but convincing American accent), Vera Farmiga (in a control-room role much like her character’s in SOURCE CODE), and Sam Shepherd as a stern CIA director – a part he could play in his sleep.



A throwaway thriller that’s not even worth the price of a matinee (or a second run bargain price for that matter), SAFE HOUSE is aptly named because it’s a sad shelter in which a couple of fine actors play it safe and take no chances with their careers.

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SOURCE CODE Is Fun, But Has A Major Glitch

SOURCE CODE (Dir. Duncan Jones, 2011)

So Jake Gyllenhaall is jarred into consciousness on a Chicago commuter train sitting across from Michelle Monaghan who’s in mid conversation mode.

She thinks he’s somebody else, and from his reflection in the train’s restroom mirror – he is somebody else.

While still scrambling to figure out what’s going on, a massive explosion destroys the train and kills him, her, and hundreds of people. Then Gyllenhaall wakes up again, but this time in a dark chamber in some sort of laboratory with Vera Farmiga in a dark blue military suit on a video monitor.

Farmiga explains to Gylennhaall that he is on a mission to inhabit a specific passenger’s mind the last 8 minutes before the train is blown up in order to identify the bomber and thwart future attacks.

Therefore Gyllenhaall is thrust into the same scene again multiple times, GROUNDHOG DAY style.

This is a juicy premise that comes equipped with some tasty twists. Gyllenhaall, who is revealed to be a army helicopter pilot, is a smart guy so it’s fun to watch him try to figure out the suspects and manipulate the situation, all the while flirting with the playful Monaghan.

As Farmiga’s superior, a stodgy Jeffrey Wright is sternly looking over her shoulder spouting out the necessary exposition about the source code that they are utilizing: “It’s not time travel; it’s time reassignment.”

As the second film of director Duncan Jones (whose first movie MOON is seriously worth checking out), SOURCE CODE is stylishly paced, elaborately assembled, and is filled with stunning visuals, but it has one fatal flaw that is really difficult for me to wrap my brain around.

Thing is, to reveal that flaw would be committing a major Spoiler! crime, so I’ll just say that this film is close to 80 maybe 85% of a superb surreal action thriller.

It's one of Gyllenhaall's most appealing performances displaying the right amount of tension and humility. By this point he doesn't have to prove that he can carry a movie, but it's still cool seeing him again give it the "old college try."

Farmiga shows that even with her lips prudishly pursed, wearing a drab uniform, and with her hair pulled back into a bun is still collassally cute. Her performance ain't bad either - she conveys a restrained sense of urgency throughout.

Monaghan doesn't have much of a character despite being the love interest, but she makes the most of it. Wright as the handicapped "source code" scientist, is all sinister in his cold calculations in a predictable "heavy" manner, but although he's mainly a device - he's not a narrative problem like the one that keeps me from being 100% on board with this movie.

So much of this film is so good that I definitely recommend it, but that one particular plot hole (that I'm dying to go off on, again - Spoiler! city) just keeps bugging me.

I know I over-think these things, and that most folks will see it as a slick serviceable popcorn picture and go about their day, but SOURCE CODE is so close to absolute brilliance in its meticulousness that I can't help but zeroing in the one element that almost derails the entire endeavor.

However, maybe getting wrapped up in that one glitch in the system is just as much fun as getting wrapped up in the rest of it.

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