SAFE HOUSE

CAROLINE: I was actually really excited for this movie but unable to attend the screening. Please tell me it was good!

RYAN: OK, it was good; not great.

CAROLINE: Alright. Please expound.

RYAN: Well the action scenes are actually all quite good. And if you wanna munch some popcorn and go for that, I fully support. But as for Denzel, it’s absolutely nothing new and certainly no Training Day.

CAROLINE: Well that’s high expectations this time of year, isn’t it?

RYAN: Yeah but you saw the trailer – this looked great, right?

CAROLINE: True. How’s Ryan Reynolds? Does he have his shirt off at all?

RYAN: Only for a split second. The man-candy award this weekend really goes to Channing Tatum in The Vow.

CAROLINE: Yes it does! Is Ryan good though?

RYAN: Yeah I thought he was really good. I think he was even better than Denzel, don’t shoot. The bigger problem for me was that this movie is very derivative of the CIA agent-goes rogue genre. It’s just very straightforward that way.

CAROLINE: But the action was terrific.

RYAN: About three quarters of the way into this movie I was consistently thinking it’s just a rental; but then, the last twenty minutes and the ending was so satisfying that I walked out saying I’d say “see it.” However, over the last few days, it has settled in.

CAROLINE: And?

RYAN: My pal Brad, who joined me at the screening, put it best, “It’s serviceable.” The action scenes are great. The movie, overall, is okay. Denzel is fine.

— RATING —