Ok, I'm biased. In my eyes Denzel Washington can do little wrong.
He doesn't have the chameleon-like attributes which I normally associate with great thesps (Fassbender being the latest) but what he does have in abundance is charisma.
I love his "explain this to me like I am a four-year-old'' line in Philadelphia so much I have used it at work for years.
Thus, despite promising to have an open mind about all movies, I was always likely to be on the side of Safe House.
What I didn't realise until the opening credits starting rolling was that it also stars the craggiest star in cinema, Brendan Gleeson and Vera Farmiga, the actress who I would be most likely to fall for, if Mrs W hadn't cast her spell over me.
And then there is Ryan Reynolds, who has been impressive enough lately for me to consider forgiving him for Definitely Maybe.
So, a supreme cast and an attractive-sounding plot: a renegade CIA agent (Washington) walks into the US consulate in Capetown because he is being chased by a gang who are trying to bump him off.
He is transferred to safe house which has been guarded by a young ambitious agent (Reynolds).
What then transpires results in Reynolds being forced to take Washington from the house but, at the same time, try to keep him in his custody.
This is easier said than done and is the foundation of a stirring chase movie.
The problem is that director Daniel Espinosa has created a film which is in crash-bang-wallop mode from almost the first scene to the last. It looks like his $80 million budget was burning a hole in his pocket.
Meanwhile, his glorious cast are never extended.
To be fair, the chase scenes (there are very many) are pretty spectacular but I would recommend sitting further back from the screen than I was in the fourth row - the speed of the camera is such that I was starting to feel a bit giddy.
Safe House is a pretty good movie. I was entertained. But I felt that with further character exploration it could have been so much better.
Laughs: none
Jumps: three good ones
Vomit: none - although I was getting so dizzy I was on the cusp of being bilious myself.
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 6.5/10