Gritty, dark and depressing, Safe House manages to thoroughly underwhelm. With Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington in the lead I was expecting Safe House to be filled with excellent dialogue, thrilling chase scenes and real chemistry. Instead I found myself in a predictable repeat: rogue agent, disenchanted, dispirited and turned against the establishment. Denzel Washington is the traitor,Tobin Frost, an ex-agent that the CIA wants desperately.They finally have him.

Hunted by unknown enemies Frost turns himself in at the American Consulate, South Africa. Guess what, the CIA has a “safe house” in South Africa manned by Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds), a bored to tears “housekeeper” waiting for his chance at adventure. Weston gets it in torrents when Frost’s enemies break in, kill the guards and destroy the safe house. Only barely do Weston and Frost escape and manage to contact the agency. Frost, a particularly annoying manipulator, manages to infuriate Weston by constant chatter, violent attempts to escape and general uncooperativeness.

The bulk of the film is about Frost’s attempts to get free and Weston’s attempts to hold him and, once Tobin gets loose, recapture him. Unfortunately Safe House never really works. Frost and Weston don’t relate well, Frost does not garner sympathy until way to late and there is never a connection between Frost and Weston. There is plenty of action in the film, lots of good fight scenes and some great chase scenes but Safe House is not as much sheer fun as the Bourne or Transporter series, though it is more believable.

Sadly, Safe House is predictable, pedantic and derivative. The idea of safe houses available for questioning (including water boarding) placed strategically around the world is the only intriguing element to the film. Everything else has been done. Even the Safe House idea is underused in favor of the action sequences. I would have loved to see Reynolds and the CIA staff interacting more in the “house.”

Expectedly, the film has the seemingly compulsory political statement embedded: the CIA is a villainous organization that expeditiously uses its operatives then destroys them without a second thought. I think that’s part of what ruins the film…the message is forced. Oh, and also, the leadership of the agency is more than ready to torture, abuse and break all the rules, even killing each other with not a second thought. This is Bourne Identity only without the heart.

I don’t recommend Safe House. Perhaps if you’re stranded on a desert island with only a generator, TV, DVD player and Safe House it might be worth watching, otherwise it’s a great miss.

Rating 2 out of 5