Film Review - Safe House

After the temporary blip that was the rather marvellous Unstoppable two years ago, Denzel Washington is back on tediously disappointing form with this run-of-the-mill actioner.
Throw in some grainy stock footage, far-too-close-to-see-what-the-hell-is-going-on action scenes, highly expected twists and overly long scenes of waffly exposition and you get the picture.
That said, the performances are surprisingly good. I hated Training Day and thought Denzel's Oscar win for that was an absolute travesty, and this is the far more convincing hard-man performance he should have given in that film. Similarly, Ryan Reynolds gives a tear-filled, emotionally-charged performance that is, frankly, far too good for this film.
Some of the action is pretty good, what you can see of it, anyway. There are quite a few extended chases, car chases, shoot-outs and punch-ups, not to mention quite a few jump-out-of-your-seat moments. Unfortunately the film seems a bit preoccupied with its delusion of its own depth, and drags itself down in the process.