SAFE HOUSE

title: SAFE HOUSE
year: 2012
cast: Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds
rating: *1/2

If there wasn’t so much expository about how formidable Denzel Washington’s rogue agent Tobin Frost is, maybe he wouldn’t have to live up to all that infamy once the story's underway: beginning with a botched heist in South Africa where Frost turns himself in to the C.I.A. and is taken to the first of three Safe Houses, where he’s watched by young agent Weston played by an extremely serious Ryan Reynolds... But there are a lot of really nasty people who want him dead, and the first of several bombastic action scenes, practically impossible to view as the camera rocks back and forth without ceasing, leads to Weston, with Frost as his prisoner, taking to the streets – till Frost shakes his tail and… 

When the duo meet again, and we realize the bad guys are supposed to be the good guys (like in every Hollywood film involving the C.I.A.), it’s a desperate fight for both agents: now teamed up to stay alive. Washington turns in a surprisingly bland performance as a character who, like a Hannibal Lector, is supposed to get into people's minds; and for an agent of his legendary caliber, he seems more confused than cunning. Reynolds holds onto a one-note scowl, and a side story with his put-upon girlfriend means absolutely nothing. But it’s that ever-shaky camera that really sinks this  clichéd thriller.

So take plenty of sea sick pills before getting on this ride, and prepare to blame America all over again. It's getting awfully tiresome, and worst yet, downright predictable.