Trailer Tracking: ‘Wanderlust,’ ‘Safe House,’ ‘This Means War,’ More

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Movie: “Safe House”

Best Parts of the Trailer: Some very cool car chases; Capetown is a beautiful locale; it’s always nice to see Denzel go bad.

Worst Parts of the Trailer: The fact that, every time I see Sam Shepard on screen now, it reminds me of that god-awful “Swordfish”; the similarities to “Training Day”; the fact that, after this summer, seeing Ryan Reynolds on screen now makes me a little sad.

Our Take: In this next chapter in the long on-screen pairing of Denzel Washington and director Tony Scott, we find our… wait a minute… what do you mean Tony Scott didn’t direct “Safe House”? What? No, look at the trailer. It’s CLEARLY a Denzel/Tony Scott action movie. Wait, who or what is a “Daniel Espinosa”? (Pause for quick IMDB break.)

Well, I’ll be. “Safe House” ISN’T a Tony Scott flick. It was, in fact, directed by some guy named Daniel Espinosa. Maybe it’s my fault. Maybe I’m just so used to seeing Denzel/Scott action flicks that, whenever I see Denzel running with a gun, I automatically assume he’s embarked on yet another partnership with Ridley Scott’s slightly more fun brother. But you have to admit, in terms of visuals and tone, this trailer and (I’m assuming) most of the marketing behind “Safe House” isn’t interested in pointing out that this is the first English-language production of a successful Swedish filmmaker. The trailer for “Safe House” wants to let you know that this is another “Denzel goes OFF” action flick, that this is familiar territory, and it accomplishes this goal fairly well. In fact, when the trailer was done, I had two main reactions – 1). this looks like a Tony Scott film, and 2). this reminds me of “Training Day”. And I bet that’s exactly what the advertising team was going for. And why not? Denzel’s Scott films have been some of his more successful movies at the box office and “Training Day” won him a freakin’ Oscar. Finding a hybrid between the two seems like a no-brainer.

And, be honest, “Safe House” looks pretty. It looks slick and not in a completely artificial way like Bay’s “Transformers” movies. The production value is high, the South African setting is cool and atypical, it’s got a strangely killer supporting cast (Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Vera Farmiga, Robert Patrick), and the action looks solid – “Bourne”-esque without overindulging in Paul Greengrass-style shaky cam. At the moment, my main concern is the premise and the pairing of Denzel and Ryan Reynolds. The plot – which involves Reynolds as a green CIA officer manning a Capetown safe house who has to protect a very, very bad ex-CIA agent (Denzel) from even worse international bad guys – is so high-concept that it could almost be played as an action-comedy, a flipped-on-its-ear take on “Midnight Run”. But director Daniel Espinosa apparently takes the material very, very seriously and turns Denzel into the kind of renegade, “is he bad or isn’t he?” mentor that he played so well in “Training Day”. And, don’t get me wrong, I love it when Denzel breaks from being the stoic hero and gets his menace on, but the trailer almost makes his character seem one-note, like he’s playing the “Training Day” tune all over again. I want Tobin Frost – Denzel’s character, whose name is spoken in a reverent hush – to be a big, nuanced, intimidating force of nature, not just a collection of conflicting signals. (Please let the plot revolve around more than just whether or not Denzel is a reliable narrator.)

My other issue is with Ryan Reynolds, who is actually probably the lead in “Safe House.” I want two things from Ryan Reynolds in “Safe House” – 1). For Reynolds’ character not to be a riff on Ethan Hawke’s character from “Training Day”, and 2). For Reynolds to make it believable that his character is so green and naïve even though he’s 35 years old. Ethan Hawke and Denzel ended up having a fantastic back-and-forth chemistry in “Training Day,” but this “Safe House” preview doesn’t really show off similar chemistry with Reynolds and Denzel. Let’s hope that’s just because this is the first of many trailers, so it can’t show us everything, but I’m just not interested watching Denzel bulldoze over Reynolds for two hours. My #1 request for the next “Safe House” trailer is to see Hal Jordon put up more of a fight. All that being said, in the scope of things, there are much, much worse fates than being compared to “Training Day” and Tony Scott films. Hopefully, the next trailers for “Safe House” will show us more personality and give us a better taste of the unique action movie DNA that Daniel Espinosa (who is not, I repeat, NOT Tony Scott) brings to the table.

TRAILER OUTLOOK: Cautiously optimistic. It’s a slick international thriller with car chases and a great cast. While, yes, it’s a little familiar, I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt… for now.