Safe House (2012)
Certified: 14
Duration: 117 minutes
Directed by: Daniel Espinosa
Starring: Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Ruben Blades, Mora Arnezeder, Robert Patrick, Liam Cunningham
KRS release
Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds team up in this entertaining thriller.
Ryan Reynolds is Matt Weston, a CIA agent based in Cape Town, South Africa who is simply bored out of his mind.
He cannot tell his girlfriend Ana (Nora Arnezender) about his real job which is that of running one of the CIA safe houses.
His senior, David Barlow (Brendan Gleeson), is always telling him that soon things will change… and the time has come.
Denzel Washington is Tobin Frost, a rogue CIA agent on the run who decides to give himself up to the US Consulate.
At some point, Frost was accused of selling government information. Obviously enough the Agency wants to interrogate him.
A team led by Daniel Kiefer (Robert Patrick) takes him to the safe house run by Matt in order to interrogat, and if necessary, torture him for information.
That is when the safe house no longer remains safe as the house is attacked by thugs and almost everyone is killed. Matt manages to escape and takes Frost with him.
Catherine Linklater (Vera Farmiga), Barlowe’s associate, has her own ideas about all this.
Meanwhile, deputy director Harlan Whitford (Sam Shepard) wants the problem solved as soon as possible so Frost is called back in. However, Matt is on the run with Frost who starts feeding him eye- opening information. Yet is it all a ruse?
Meanwhile, the two are trying to avoid getting killed at every corner.
Debuting Swedish director Daniel Espinosa delivers well in the action sequences, showing that much thought was placed into their choreography.
The adrenaline-filled and visually impressive sequences up the ante.
The film’s script comes from the infamous Black List – a list of unproduced screenplays.
Written by David Guggenheim, the script is a collection of genre clichés which are given character and personality.
In fact, the script, together with the visuals, manage to catapult us into this volatile environment. The tension-filled relationship between the protagonists provides its audience with a rollercoaster ride.
Denzel Washington seems to be having tons of fun playing mind games and exerting a negative influence on Matt. Meanwhile, Mr Reynolds is very appealing to his audience.
The film benefits enormously from Oliver Wood’s cinematography as he uses the same grainy and in-your-face feel he had used in The Bourne series.
Safe House wades through familiar waters but this return to the top of the box-office for Denzel Washington is worth all the popcorn you will get to chomp on.