Nearly all Hollywood action-thrillers make valiant efforts to appear different from and divergent to their countless contemporaries, yet the end products, in most cases, give us a sense of déjà vu while watching them – the same holds true for Safe House as well. But one good thing about this film is that, the director never attempted in portraying it as something it is not, viz. cerebral or high-brow or artsy. This is an out and out plot-based film where the storyline concerns with Matt Weston, a rookie CIA agent and caretaker of a ‘safe house’ in Cape Town, who gets a high-profile visitor in the form of Tobin Frost, a highly resourceful former CIA guy who has been on the ‘Most Wanted’ list of most spy agencies around the world. However, as in most spy thrillers, nothing is as it seems – consequently, we soon find Frost on the run courtesy a gang of mercenaries who are after him, and Matt too joins the hot pursuit in a desperate attempt to prove his worth to the powers that be. The film boasts of a number of spectacular action sequences and set-pieces to keep the popcorn churners entertained, and the grainy photography has lent a here-and-now feel to the proceedings. Denzel Washington is eminently watchable, as he always is, as a mysterious rogue operative. Unfortunately, Ryan Reynolds is a complete letdown, as are the predictable and overused storyline and plot angles.
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Genre: Action/Spy Thriller
Language: English
Country: US
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