Directed by Daniel Espinosa
(R)
**
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Safe House is a “passable B-grade spy flick,” said Mike Russell in the Portland Oregonian. But its rogue espionage agents, its intense action sequences, and its grimy look feel “so blatantly lifted” from Universal Studios’ own Jason Bourne movies that “you wonder if they had DVDs on set for reference.” Ryan Reynolds stars as a young CIA operative overseeing a safe house in South Africa when a rogue spy, played by Denzel Washington, is brought in and quickly attracts an attack by mercenaries. “Thanks largely to Washington’s sly performance and Daniel Espinosa’s taut direction,” the film begins well, said Nathan Rabin in the A.V. Club. Once Reynolds and Washington go on the run, though, the tension slackens and “never recovers.” When Sam Shepard and Vera Farmiga show up in supporting roles, stock characterizations and “stiff dialogue” waste their talents. As usual, Washington brings “more to the game than the game warrants,” said Tom Long in The Detroit News. But “this is his umpteenth action role” since he won an Oscar for 2001’s Training Day. “Isn’t it time for one of America’s greatest actors to stretch a bit?”
