Safe House (2012)

I like this. You and me, figuring shit out. Like the Hardy Boys" - Tobin Frost - Denzel Washington

Wow. Vintage Denzel. When he starts getting into Ryan Reynold's head he also starts your own wheels turning. It's a mesmerizing performance. Reynolds himself is excellent as a CIA agent way out of his element who is about the have the worst day of his life. For 12 months he's been babysitting a CIA Safe House in Cape Town, South Africa. Then everything goes to hell when a most valued target enters his facility.


The fun part of Safe House is that you are not given much time to put the pieces together. There are few lulls from beginning to end. Through the twisted maze of streets in Cape Town South Africa, a giant game of cat and mouse has begun.

I liked that I couldn't easily figure a way out for Reynold's character for a good part of this film. I didn't want him just to be a pawn and for this story to work he had to figure things out for himself and be one step ahead of the master manipulator (Washington) and his own people. He had the advantage of knowing the city he was assigned too.

Story wise, everything is CIA technogarblespeak where guilty people give guilty looks to other guilty people. You seen this set-up a million times before. I like that the movie employs a kind of visual shorthand that shoots everything ahead at breakneck speed. Not a lot gets explained to you because it doesn't have to be explained to you.

It's a delicate tightrope that can be undone with one stupid, out of place plot twist. Half way through the movie and it hasn't appeared yet.


I especially like how they made the pursuers just as tech savvy and deadly as the CIA agents. These are not a group of bumbling fools. The leader is especially unpredictable.

What the hell is going on here? How far back has this operation been in the works or is Tobin Frost TRULY gone off the reservation? I liked how I never knew what was going on or when the anger would explode.

The crowd scenes and local settings are amazing. Everything whirls with flashing lights and colors. It had a different feel and rhythm when compared to your average action thriller. It's nice to see the location become so integrated with the mood of the story.

You have seen it all before but this one is a good take on the genre.

8/10