Film Review: Safe House

Certificate: 15 (strong violence throughout and some language)
Directed By: Daniel Espinosa
Cast: Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Robert Patrick, Liam Cunningham, Joel Kinnaman, Nora Arnezeder
Budget: $85 million
Runtime: 115 minutes
Trailer: Watch

When rogue CIA agent Tobin Frost (Washington) turns himself into the US consulate in Cape Town, South Africa to escape some clandestine assassins, he is taken to a safe house manned by rookie agent Matt Weston (Reynolds) for interrogation. When the safe house is hit by the hoodlums, Weston escapes with Frost and vows to bring him in. However, things become complicated when Weston finds out the reason for Frost's double-dealing, forcing him to question where his own loyalties lie.

This is a 'safe' movie, not too daring yet not too brilliant either. Safe House benefits from its simplistic structure where it saves on the talking in order to maximise the action. This serves to mask many of the film's weaknesses, namely its predictability. The film's major twist for example can be spotted about half way in when it becomes apparent that some sort of CIA malfeasance is at work. As it always is in films of this type. It is fair to say that Bourne really did do a number on how modern day spy flicks are supposed to be. Almost every spy effort of note since, even Bond's reboot, has been influenced and reengineered for the post-Bourne era. Rogue agents on the run from unknown elements, car chases through built up areas, shady government organisations all seem to be prerequisite for the modern spy thriller these days. Even Safe House's cinematographer, Oliver Wood, is the same man who shot the last two Bourne films, and it shows.

Safe House does admittedly try to touch upon some intriguing notions of its own. The ideological battle between Weston's idealism and Tobin's cynicism does have potential. Likewise, Tobin is supposedly a master manipulator but while he's certainly coolheaded and switched on, he never really displays these acclaimed talents. He's a slippery man well versed in the ways of spydom no doubt, but other than his experience his 'preternatural' abilities extend about as far as getting Weston to question whether the CIA is up to no good, as if that's some Earth-shattering revelation. Well no shit Sherlock. As such, Safe House unfortunately never follows through with its promises to work your grey matter.

Indeed, Washington glides through Safe House effortlessly. In fact, maybe too effortlessly as he almost seems to wing the role on charm alone. This is in contrast to hardworking Reynolds, who's evidently acting his little guts out. One might think that this would make for a great buddy up but there's something a bit odd with their interactions. One's clearly into it, the other you can't tell if he gives two shits. If we are to take the premise that Tobin's character is a master of head-fucks, this is certainly one which he succeeds in pulling. Gleeson is adequate, but perhaps most disappointing is how Farmiga has again been shunted to a minor role like in Source Code. The woman is clearly a talented actress and it just seems a waste of her abilities. Although it is nice to see Joel Kinnaman pop in, a man who seems to be getting his face into a lot these days.

In a sense this is slightly disappointing in that the best spy films are invariably quite cerebral. This is not. As Bourne clones go though, Safe House is pretty average; better than Salt, worse than Hanna. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be a boring one. Decent watch albeit predictable action fest.

Film Review: Source Code

Captain Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) is a test subject of the 'source code' program, a scientific method which can project a subject's consciousness into the past (and another person's body) for a limited period of time. Stevens is tasked with finding out who blew up a commuter train, repeatedly having to live out the last 8-minutes of a passenger's life. Suspicions soon fester when it appears that his handler, Goodwin (Farmiga) and the program's director (Wright) appear not to be all that straightforward with him.

If you think Groundhog Day crossed with Quantum Leap you begin to get an idea of what Source Code is. It is an intelligently structured film which goes over the same eight-minutes repeatedly, each time advancing the plot a little further. It's a dismally beguiling affair as we watch Stevens form a stronger emotional connection with the woman sitting opposite him, Christina (Monoghan), all the while knowing the train's inescapable fait. But Source Code is more than just a tragic love story or a who-dunnit thriller. It is a film about one man's beef with the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics. Indeed, there's enough time travel paradoxes and moebius loop-defying nonsense to make your head spin in the same enjoyable manner that Inception fucked with your subconscious. While the sci-fi parts will work your grey matter, its shocking, unintended horror of an ending reverberates darkly and will raise all sorts of ethical and philosophical questions.

Gyllenhaal is excellent in displaying an immense versatility. From action hero bouncing around a train carriage to romantic softy as he falls for the pretty girl opposite, all the while coming to terms with his own sorrowful circumstances, he remains at home with all the film's many sub-genres. Jeffrey Wright's surreptitious program director adds a hint of melodrama, but it's really Farmiga's Goodwin and Monoghan's Christina who shine. While Goodwin's role appears nothing more than a plot set up, Farmiga's portrayal brings something more as she visibly attempts to prevent her emotions getting in the way of the mission. There is a real sense of a human being underneath the nonchalant persona her military uniform demands. Monoghan conversely emanates an aura one can only be drawn to. Indeed, with each eight-minute loop we gain more empathetic attachment to a woman on the verge of changing her life, making her fate all the more tragic and Gyllenhaal's fight to bend the laws of time that more ingratiating.

Source Code is the sort of film that requires multiple viewings for everything to set in place. It is ambiguous but pointedly so, particularly with its tentative quandary of an ending. What Source Code does brilliantly is to provide you with all the details without announcing them in a fanfare. It is this which, despite spilling into other genres, firmly sets Source Code in the realms of science fiction. It won't spoon-feed you messages like so many movies do. Rather, director Duncan Jones has buried them so deep that when you do discover them it feels accidental, almost as if uncovering something we're not supposed to. And that is the most rewarding thing about Source Code. Perhaps the most gripping eight-minutes you'll see all year.