All Critics (167)
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Top Critics (32)
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Fresh (90)
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Rotten (77)
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DVD (1)
The photography and editing are state-of-the-Bourne-art exciting - breathless chases, brutal, blurry fights and unnerving shootouts.
The film's super-saturated look and quick cutting are mere substitutes for any real sense of intrigue.
This is a naive director with so little insight you wonder what comic books he's been reading.
I won't deny that the movie hooked me with sheer brute energy and dragged me along with it most of the way.
Nothing really new here, but the cast is first-rate.
"Safe House" has just enough bone density to emit some satisfying cracks and pops whenever the action gets going.
Ultimately, it dashes into so many close-ups of carnage and neckbreaking, it skids scuzzily close to spy-snuff. Call this Bourne-porn; Safe House needed a safe word.
This is Ryan Reynolds best performance that I've seen since Van Wilder and the wonderful, iconic, legendary Denzel Washington getting screen time and playing the 'badass character' that we love to see him play.
You'll feel bad in the morning for having spent time with it.
If you're craving a bit of action or just want to clear a few internal blockages in your circulatory system, 'Safe House' will suffice.
Wall to wall action and all the betrayals and bullets to play the CIA spy game with an exceptional cast. Just don't let an inventive story get in the way.
A frenetic action thriller whose chases, gunplay and hand-to-hand combat flash by in such a furious blur that the viewer barely has time to register the plot's shortcomings.
It moves like a thoroughbred.
If you like an explosive, action-packed game of high-stakes cat-and-mouse that keeps you guessing until the very end, you'll love skipping along to the slam-bang surprises of Safe House.
It's derivative of many thrillers we've seen in recent years, but the strength of its cast and the technical quality of the action do a lot to make us forget those similarities.
A solid thriller, 'Safe House' isn't extraordinary. But it's a safe bet for those who enjoy 'Bourne'-type espionage movies.
An espionage film by numbers set in South Africa...
Less of the juggernaut that was Unstoppable, but still a highly digestible Washington affair ...
Washington and Reynolds genuinely click into their characters and provide several shades of grey between them.
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.
Espinosa occasionally gets bogged down in the complexities of the plot, but is on more confident footing with a series of white-knuckle chase scenes and shoot-outs.
Car chases, brutal fight scenes and much ancillary action crowd the story, but there's little to detain the brain as far as script or characterisation go.
Safe House hits top gear in the frenetic opening 10 minutes and barely touches the brakes for two hours.
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.
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