Safe House Movie Review

Whew! The 2012 movie season has kicked off with a bang with some awesome feature films. Last week Chronicle, now this week Safe House. Safe House is an action espionage thriller that is filled with constant mayhem and destruction.  Oh yea, and it stars the lady favorite Denzel Washington.  Rahesha sat through the whole movie with a big o’l smile on her face.  The film starts with battles and ends with battles. Some of the fighting scenes were some of the most intense I have seen in awhile.

The storyline basically revolves around a bored CIA agent named Matt (Ryan Reynolds), who is in charge of a safe house in South Africa, where nothing happens, until one day a CIA interrogation team brings in the CIA’s rogue agent Tobias Frost (Denzel) in for a little questioning.  All hell breaks loose and Matt is on the run pursing Frost.  That is all I am going to give you for the story because that is all you need when going into this film. You rarely get to pause for breath in this film, there is very little down time.  Although this film was a great action spectacle, there was a little predictability when it came to the espionage piece, which allowed me to figure things out pretty quickly.  Regardless, if you want to get into an action picture filled with explosions, gunplay, car chases and Denzel strutting his stuff on screen, then go see Safe House, it’s worth it!

Grade: A

Rahesha- A+

Chronicles Movie Review

Chronicle is a found footage film in the vein of Blair Witch and Cloverfield that follows the lives of three high school teens Andrew, Matt and Scott, who discover a meteor crater and obtain telekinesis, super strength and flying ability after a strange event that wipes out their memories of what happened.  One of the teens named Andrew films everything they do and he gets strong enough where he uses his powers to keep the camera filming hands free at all times.  As the story progresses along, the three teens powers grow and their pranks and pratfalls become larger and larger.  Andrew, the main character in this film is like an evil Peter Parker. He has an abusive father, very few friends and has always been ostracized from fellow teenagers in his community.  He doesn’t have a strong role model to tell him like Uncle Ben told Peter Parker that with “great power comes great responsibility”.  As the three friends become more and more powerful, Andrew becomes disillusioned with his life, friends and family and begins to spiral downhill mentally and emotionally.  This culminates in a showdown, which will only leave one super powered person standing.

The Chronicle of these events is the most amazing thing of I have seen this year! The Chronicle is a fresh take on the superhero genre, which makes the film even more up close and personal than your traditional hero movie fare.  Teenagers and adults alike will feel a personal connection to this film due to its realistic portrayal of high school kids who are suddenly given enormous powers.  The fight scenes seem like they would be happening right outside my window in the street.  The most awe inspiring part of the film to me is when the three friends learn how to fly and are up in the atmosphere flying and playing football.  Many may say this movie is stealing from Smallville or Heroes, but those shows didn’t even pop into my head to compare it to.  This movie is more like the Japanese anime “Akira” than anything else. All I can say is this film is amazing, funny, chilling and refreshing!

Grade: A

Roshawn: A

Kameron: A