Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington do not have similar careers, but one mildly successful action film brought them together. Washington was fresh off of Flight, and Reynolds had just finished Green Lantern. Safe House doesn’t come close to either of their best works, but it’s not among their weakest either. Star power alone likely dragged this unnoticed early-2010s offering to the sixth-place spot on Netflix. It won’t be there long, but fans might enjoy a new glimpse of Reynolds and Washington.
Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington Hang Out In the Safe House
Safe House is one of a million generic spy movies that came out of the Bourne boom. Ryan Reynolds stars as a minor CIA agent looking for a promotion. He’s a housekeeper, which means he keeps the titular house safe. Denzel Washington plays the villain, a rogue former agent who seems to have something the agency wants. The two come together as a veteran agent waterboards Washington. The star of the Equalizer trilogy underwent real torture for the role, which is a bold sacrifice. A rash of mercenaries pops up, forcing Reynolds and Denzel to hit the road. Anyone who has seen a spy movie can guess that the agency is somehow complicit in crimes, and Reynolds will have to go lone wolf. Motivations shift, heroes become villains, and a ton of people die violently. The stars sell it well enough, but there’s nothing in Safe House worth saving.
Ryan Reynolds has a slightly more impressive career in action these days. He still does dull schlock like the Hitman’s Bodyguard franchise and Red Notice, but at least he found something to suit his talent. We now associate Ryan Reynolds more closely with Deadpool than anything else. There’s a tendency among nerds to reduce actors to their superhero roles, but few fit as well as Ryan does in the red spandex. Denzel also has an action franchise. He helms the dad-friendly Equalizer trilogy, but it hardly defines him. The early 2010s were weird for Denzel. He starred in Unstoppable, The Book of Eli, and the remake of The Taking of Pelham 123. You couldn’t imagine him stepping into those projects today. He’s more interested in slightly more prestigious material. It’s tough to imagine these two stars crossing paths again, as fun as it could be.
Safe House hit the top ten through the combined effort of most of the viewing public. The film is on national lists on multiple continents. It has countless viewers in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. I rarely see this level of universal worldwide support. I think it would be hard to argue that the film trades on anything more controversial than Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington’s faces. It’s an inoffensive genre, but the stars sell the film. Anyone looking for a new project in their favorite star’s filmography could do better, but they could also do worse.
