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Safe House

SAFE HOUSE (Daniel Espinosa). 115 minutes. Opens Friday (February 10). For venues and times, see Movies.


Safe House is a Bourne Trilogy knock-off that borrows that series’s immersive approach to car chases, shootouts and punch-ups but lacks its manic invention and monster budget. Still, it’s got decent thrills, some good acting and a fast-paced if predictable spy story.

Novice CIA agent Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) babysits a safe house in Johannesburg. He’d like something more interesting to do, and gets his chance when rogue agent Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) is brought in for interrogation. The house gets raided. Weston tosses Frost in the trunk of a car and goes on the run.

Washington walks the line between good guy and bad, never tipping his hand, which makes him by far the most interesting character. Reynolds handles the action scenes well and effectively plays Weston’s determination against his inexperience.

Vera Farmiga and Brendan Gleeson’s duelling CIA executives are right out of the Bourne handbook (think Joan Allen and Brian Cox). We know one of them is dirty (that’s how these movies go), and it’s not hard to figure out who, but they dig into the roles and contribute to the overall fun.

Most of the action is well handled. A sequence in a soccer stadium stands out for suspense, surprising twists and reversals and some flashes of genuine emotion.

movies@nowtoronto.com

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