Safe House

Secret agents seem to be very popular at the moment with a few films about them released recently. This is the latest.

We've had CIA agents falling in love in 'This Means War', but this is more hard core action with a plot about rogue agents like 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'. Instead of an agent looking for a mole we have an agent trying to protect a mole from being attacked. You could be very cynical and say that if Hollywood took 'Tinker Tailor' then re-wrote it to make it more appealing and better for a broader audience. that is not to say the film is terrible but just a kind of dumbed down version. The plot is fairly basic with no really surprising twists. If the film is anything to go by, I did find the procedures of working in a safe house to be very interesting. I could not imagine working in a place like that as it seems they are not allowed to do much except be bored. It also seems hard for them to keep relationships as are not allowed to tell anyone what they do. The action sequences are well handled and nicely fast and loud.

I'm not a terribly big fan of Denzel Washington. Here he does a decent job of playing the smart bad guy who knows how to judge people and their behaviour. He does also give a nicely subdued performance and does not over play it as he normally does. Ryan Reynolds is excellent and plays the morally strong hero part well. The rest of the cast are highly respected actors but have little to do other than stand and talk in a surveillance room.

A decent but not overly great action film about the CIA. If you thought 'Tinker Tailor' made your brain hurt with its intellect then this is more for you.