Critic Reviews

The action is contained within a coherent dramatic structure and the puzzle-box paranoia of spy-agency protocol.

Director Espinosa stages the endless action with a tremendous flair that recalls John Woo's grittier moments, and cinematographer Oliver Wood, who shot Woo's finest Hollywood moment, "Face/Off," gives the whole violent show a downright brackish look that borders on the sublime.

Safe House rockets along, taking a familiar formula and making it work - hard.

A gritty spy thriller directed by relative newcomer Daniel Espinosa, and a film that -- despite the occasional misstep -- ends up being a taut, suspense-filled ride.

Essentially and very effectively a rollicking smash-and-crash chase movie that happens to be surprisingly well acted.

Though Safe House may be too violent and nihilistic for everyone's taste, it does have several crackerjack action sequences.

Compared with a superior potboiler like "Salt," which messed with your brain in entertainingly far-fetched ways, Safe House is action-movie porridge gussied up into a less-clever-than-it-seems mystery.

Movies don't come any brawnier than Safe House, and all that chaotic mayhem eventually beats the plot to a pulp.

Director Espinosa shoots virtually everything in tight but wobbly close-up, and the human and vehicular combat often brakes right at the edge of visual incoherence. Just as often the brakes give out completely.

It'd be unwise to dismiss Safe House as merely a clone of Tony Scott's manically inclined vision.