If “The Bourne Identity” franchise was successful because it featured a great cast… “Safe House”

Directed by: Daniel Espinosa

Starring: Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington

Grade: C+

If “The Bourne Identity” franchise was successful because it featured a great cast, a compelling story and a relatively novel idea, then “Safe House” is unsuccessful because it lacks all of these things.

As much as it seems the latter wanted to copy the former, the filmmakers just didn’t pull it off. The plot of director Daniel Espinosa’s movie is wholly unoriginal and poorly executed, ultimately leaving the audience to make due with two hours of “I called it.”

The film stars Ryan Reynolds as Matt Weston, a young CIA field officer who has been relegated to maintaining one of the agency’s “safe houses” in the most boring region for CIA activity, Cape Town, South Africa. Things change quickly after a seemingly endless action sequence in which rogue CIA agent Tobin Frost, played by Denzel Washington, narrowly escapes a group of spies trying to capture him.

Frost and Weston are forced to work together to escape, and along the way Frost teaches Weston valuable life lessons à la every movie you can think of. It’s not so much that the movie is entirely bad, it’s just tired and cookie-cutter.

One of the more successful aspects of the film is that Washington and Reynolds make a good team on screen. Washington provides some of his best work as the rouge, emotionally unstable Tobin Frost and Reynolds continues to prove he can be more than just a funny guy.

As for other commendable features, certain scenes that take place in cars feel highly reminiscent of “Training Day,” and the fight scenes — which account for almost the whole movie — are well-crafted and highly stylized.

Yet the movie becomes maddening at certain points, as the characters do things that simply don’t make any sense. Weston manages to escape a crowded soccer match despite the fact that virtually the entire world is looking for him, replete with news broadcasters flashing his face across every TV screen. Perhaps the biggest plot hole comes at the very end, when the writer’s idea of a twist just makes the preceding two hours that much more confusing.

Swedish director Espinosa appears to have done the best that he could have with the hackneyed screenplay. The cinematography and details in the backdrop of Cape Town make the film enjoyable, if only for the nice aesthetic. In fact, “Safe House” is a lot like the “Bourne” series in terms of directing and plot, and that’s just the problem. The new release just doesn’t feel like it’s own film so much as a copy of a more successful movie.