In his first English-language thriller, Swedish director Daniel Espinosa works overtime to try and deliver a gritty, action bonanza, long on kamikaze-style car chases and spectacular fight scenes. Ultimately, however, Safe House is a film that falls short of its potential.

Denzel Washington – who also served as one of the film’s executive producers – stars as Tobin Frost, the CIA’s most dangerous operative. Suspected of being a double agent, Frost is a mercenary who is believed to have traded intelligence with unknown foreign enemies. After more than a decade on the run, the rogue spy suddenly walks into a U.S. Embassy in Cape Town, South Africa to surrender. He is immediately transferred to a CIA safe house elsewhere in the country, where a low-level agent, Matt Weston (played by Ryan Reynolds), serves as the facility’s “housekeeper.”

Agents interrogate Frost and are authorized to use controversial methods such as waterboarding in an attempt to get sensitive information the spy may possibly have. But during the delicate operation, the safe house is stormed by militants from an unknown faction, who proceed to shoot everything in sight. Frost and Weston flee, and Weston finally gets the high-level assignment he’s always dreamed of: delivering Frost to an alternative CIA-operated facility by himself.

Washington’s versatility as an actor is what saves the film’s all-too-predictable storyline. The recently turned 52-year-old, portrays the steely resolve of Frost with an icy coolness, subtly stealing each scene he appears in as discreetly as his on-screen demeanor. He is a man of few words, and that’s just fine — like most action stars, he lets his fists do the talking.

It’s good that Washington maintains his poise throughout the film because Ryan Reynolds’ performance is forgettable. Appearing too overwhelmed by the often frenzied pitch and fluid plot of the film, one is left with a distinct sense that Reynolds is as clueless in each scene as his character. The main supporting actors, Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson and Sam Shepard, often appear as equally confused as Reynolds, bumbling through their lines and choreography in choppily-edited action sequences more befitting of the 1980s than the slick spectacles audiences today have come to expect.

The film does have its moments, however, including a hair-raising car chase through Cape Town and a madcap pursuit over the rooftops of Langa Township reminiscent of The Bourne Ultimatum. The backdrop of the teeming, populous exoticness of South Africa adds some much-needed vibrancy and is a treat for moviegoers used to seeing chases across various European capitals, adding a National Geographic-esque cinematographic angle that sometimes compensates for the weak script.

Yet overall, Safe House leaves much to be desired. Given Espinosa’s track record of producing charming Swedish-language films filled with excitement (Babylonsjukan and Snabba Cash come to mind) and Washington’s solid resume over his lengthy career, one would expect more from a pairing of the two. They make the film respectable, but like the New York Knicks pairing Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire in the middle of the season, they ultimately can’t save a weak supporting cast.

Rating: 2 out of 4

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