journal features

movie review - Safe House

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Toronto, 2018.08.09

This is a drama about a raid on a "safe house" maintained by the CIA, and the unlikely pairing for the rest of the story between one of the agents and the Bad Guy he is tasked with protecting. I didn't feel that the leads had much chemistry, and with that missing a lot of tension is missing from any action and desperate acts that may follow. There's a bit too much betrayal and ever-so-slightly-wrong suspicion between basically everyone, and too much edge in the way that supposed colleagues interact. It got wearying.

Not recommended.

rand()m quote

One day you will take a fork in the road, and you're going to have to make a decision about which direction you want to go. If you go one way, you can be somebody. You will have to make compromises and you will have to turn your back on your friends. But you will be a member of the club and you will get promoted and get good assignments. Or you can go the other way and you can do something [...] for yourself. If you decide to do something, you may not get promoted and get good assignments and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors. But you won't have to compromise yourself. To be somebody or to do something. In life there is often a roll call. That's when you have to make a decision. To be or to do.

—John Boyd, US Air Force