Safe HouseMovie Reviews

So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 52 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    Philadelphia Inquirer | Steven Rea

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

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    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. Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Safe House has two powerful performances at its core, a hectic plot, a huge body count and a mild sense of déjà vu amid the pulse-quickening tension. Read full review

  • 50
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Worse, Safe House asks us to believe that Ryan Reynolds can outclass Denzel Washington in the art of being a hard-ass. Not on this planet, baby. Read full review

  • 50
    The Hollywood Reporter | Todd McCarthy

    Terse and understated, this is a spy vs. spy tale designed to minimize talk and maximize action, not at all a bad thing in movies but over-worked to near-exhaustion here. Read full review

  • 50
    Wall Street Journal | John Anderson

    Safe House is a sturdy enough thriller, but one that consistently defaults to the less interesting of its two lead characters. Read full review

  • 50
    Boston Globe | Wesley Morris

    I'm not getting the most of his (Washington) charisma or enough of that million-dollar dental work. I'm not getting the joy, and I miss that. Read full review

  • 40
    New York Daily News | Joe Neumaier

    Safe House devolves into unexciting action scenes that feel left over from the "Bourne" flicks and are peopled with cloak-and-dagger stereotypes. Read full review

  • 40
    NPR | Ian Buckwalter

    It was only a matter of time before someone made a Tony Scott movie without Tony Scott. Read full review

  • 25
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Safe House is an idea for a movie. It's a few blustery gestures in the direction of a story, with five good actors doing their best, trying to hold up the barest frame of an idea, while investing the surrounding emptiness with all the truth they can muster. Read full review

View more reviews for Safe House on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Interesting characters clash in extremely violent thriller.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that Safe House is an extremely violent action thriller about how a young, optimistic CIA agent deals with a seasoned, cynical renegade. Expect lots of guns, killing, and blood, as well as car crashes, explosions, fights, and even torture (water boarding). There's a minor scene of sexuality, but no graphic nudity. Language and drinking are both infrequent (though the former does include both "f--k" and "s--t"), and consumerism is limited to one character's use of an Apple iPhone. Teens may want to see this if they're fans of stars Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds, but it's not age appropriate for younger viewers.
  • Families can talk about Safe House's violence. Was it necessary to get the movie's point across? Which scenes were thrilling, and which were disturbing? How does the impact of what you saw here compare to the kind of violence in a comic book action movie?
  • Tobin believes that no one is to be trusted and that everyone will eventually betray you. Matt has a lot more hope for goodness to prevail. Is there a happy medium between these two attitudes?  
  • Do you think organizations like the CIA are susceptible to corruption in real life? Why might some aspects of working there be exaggerated in the media?
The good stuff
  • message true1 Positive messages: The movie's main theme is a clash between experience/cynicism and youthful optimism. The conclusion is that both ideals can exist at the same time and that it can be detrimental to focus on just one or the other.
  • rolemodels true1 Positive role models: Matt Weston is a youthful optimist who's hankering for some action and a chance to prove himself. He's a bit reckless, and he eventually has no qualms about killing people in self defense, but he also risks everything in order to do what he thinks is right. His perseverance rubs off on a few other characters.
What to watch for
  • violence false4 Violence: This movie is a non-stop chase, with lots of shooting, deaths, and blood. There are explosions, car chases, car crashes, knife fights, strangling, and fist fights. Characters are stabbed with shards of glass. There's an intense scene of water torture (a wet towel is placed over the victim's face, and water is poured on top to simulate the feel of drowning).
  • sex false3 Sexy stuff: The main character's girlfriend follows him into the bathroom, removes her clothes, and climbs into the shower with him. Viewers see kissing, but no graphic nudity.
  • language false3 Language: Surprisingly infrequent for this kind of movie; "f--k," "s--t," "hell," and "ass" are each used a couple of times.
  • consumerism false1 Consumerism: The character talks on an Apple iPhone every so often. The Apple logo is visible at least once.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false1 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Denzel Washington's character enjoys fine wine. Viewers see him drinking it twice, more to savor the flavor than to get drunk.
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Dave White

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Exclusive Features

Cast Interviews Exclusive Cast Interivews Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds and director Daniel Espinosa talk about shooting in Cape Town, South Africa and character development. Also, will Denzel ever work with Spike Lee again? The Ultimate Denzel Movie List Take a look back at the other great movie roles inhabited by Denzel. The Mighty Denzel: 10 Classic Movie Scenes