Denzel props up formulaic thriller ‘Safe House’

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Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington star in “Safe House.”

‘Safe House’ ★★★

Tobin Frost Denzel Washington

Matt Weston Ryan Reynolds

Catherine Linklater Vera Farmiga

David Barlow Brendan Gleeson

Harlan Whitford Sam Shepard

Universal presents a film directed by Daniel Espinosa. Written by David Guggenheim. Running time: 115 minutes. Rated R (for strong vio­lence throughout and some language). Opening Friday at local theaters.

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Updated: March 11, 2012 8:22AM

All the best villains have memorable names, from Hannibal Lecter to Hans Gruber to Norman Bates to, well, Darth Vader. That name usually gets bandied about quite a bit by the good guys, who utter it with fear and respect so we know we’re dealing with a classic bad-ass.

Enter Tobin Frost. Tobin Frost!

Frost (Denzel Washington) is a rogue CIA operative who tested off the charts as a young recruit and became a legend in the agency before going “off the grid” nearly a decade ago. Now he’s got a priceless file filled with incendiary information squirreled away somewhere, and he’s in custody in South Africa, and every time an agent gets a glimpse of him on a security camera or in an interrogation room, said agent stops just short of signing the cross before whispering, “That’s Tobin Frost!” LeBron James wishes he had that kind of celebrity worship.

It’s the untested young agent Matt Weston who winds up as the sole custodian of Frost in South Africa — but even though he’s untested young agent Matt Weston, he’s clearly Ryan Reynolds, which means he’s going to take off his shirt a lot, and he’ll just happen to acquire world-class driving, self-defense and deductive skills once he’s plunged into a world of chaos and he’s no longer sure he can trust anybody.

Such is the unsubtle nature of “Safe House,” a brutal, saturated-colors thriller filmed by Daniel Espinosa as if he’d won first prize in a Tony Scott direct-a-like contest. All of the elements of a T. Scott film are in place, from the occasional hand-held jiggly-cam work in tight quarters to the breathtaking overhead pans to the lingering shots of the girlfriend arm-candy to the undeniably entertaining chase sequences and sometimes wince-inducing violence. 

Espinosa has even enlisted the four-star charisma of Scott’s go-to guy Denzel, veteran of films such as “Unstoppable,” “Déjà Vu” and “Man on Fire.” Washington chews up the screen with gusto, racking up more kills than he did in “Training Day” as he fends off the various assassins and government agents trying to bring him in and/or hang on to him once he’s captured.

“Safe House” lives in a world in which CIA headquarters in Langley is bursting with glossy, high-tech rooms populated by attractive young agents who know how to pipe up exactly when a plot point or a character needs to be explained. The veterans in the room include Vera Farmiga as Catherine Linklater, who suspects Weston has gone rogue and teamed up with Frost; Brendan Gleeson as Weston’s mentor, David Barlow, and Sam Shepard as their boss, who is clearly in charge because he keeps taking off his glasses and speaking in a soft voice.

The safe house in question is an armored fortress of an apartment manned by Weston, who spends his days and nights bouncing a tennis ball, learning new languages and cell phone-flirting with his hot French girlfriend, who thinks he works at some sort of clinic. Weston’s world is rocked when The Tobin Frost is brought to the house in the dead of night by a team of heavily armed CIA agents who proceed to water board Frost in a futile attempt to extract information. And then (spoiler alert!) things go horribly wrong, and Weston is the last man standing. He’s charged not only with transporting Frost to another safe house but with protecting the guy from the relentless team of assassins hellbent on killing him.

“Safe House” has moments when it reaches a little deeper than another neck-twisting kill or chase through the tenements of Cape Town, such as, when Frost explains to Weston why Matt will leave his girlfriend before she’ll leave him. When Frost shares a bottle of wine with a semi-retired document forger (played by Ruben Blades), who tells him there’s a time to accept the smaller pleasures of the world and get out of the game, knowing it’s already too late for Frost. When Robert Patrick’s CIA operative briefly squares off with Frost. All good stuff.

But those are just the lulls before the next chase sequence, the next shootout, the next hand-to-hand fight to the death. “Safe House” has two jump-in-your-seat moments and a few obligatory plot twists that seem mostly arbitrary. That Matt would be shocked to learn not all is what it appears to be makes you wonder how he even got a job with the CIA.

But the cast is first-rate, with Washington dominating every scene he’s in and the supporting veterans turning in fine work, even when they’re mouthing international-thriller cliches. As for Reynolds, his cocky persona and chiseled physique would seem to work against him in a role that calls for inexperience and vulnerability, but he pulls it off in one of his more natural and likable performances. “Safe House” breaks no new ground but holds our attention throughout. After all, they’ve got TOBIN FROST in custody.