Denzel Washington returned to add yet another thriller to
his CV this year with Safe House, an action thriller set in Cape Town.
The movie also stars Ryan Reynolds who arguably plays the
main character, Matt Weston, a frustrated man who is stuck in his role running
a safe house for the CIA. Denzel plays Tobin Frost, a rogue agent who’s been
out there for years evading the CIA. One way or another he ends up captured and
lo-and-behold he is introduced to woefully inexperienced Matt.
Unfortunately the US government are fairly inept, according
to this movie anyway, and they fail to secure the location and somehow grant
every man and his dog in South Africa the knowledge of the safe house’s
location. Due to this several armed men force their way into the compound in an
attempt to get to Frost. During the inevitable firefight, Matt takes Frost out
with him and they head off on the run while the Americans wonder just what to
do.
This represents the best chunk of the movie where Frost
tries to get into Matt’s head and largely succeeds. Matt’s job becomes harder
and harder as he starts to question his own loyalties towards those above him
who it seems would get rid of him at the drop of a hat.
As an action movie Safe House is entertaining enough, it does
everything you expect from a thriller but never really goes out of its way to
excel. Without the two big stars I doubt this movie would be any good; it’s a
credit to them that they pull off the roles very well.
Having said that though I think the movie benefits from not being
set in America. Being set in Cape Town allows action scenes to take place in the
slums or in one of the former World Cup stadiums. It definitely makes the movie
stand out much more than it would if it were set in some boring American city
we’re so used to in action movies nowadays.
As I say, overall I can’t really heap too much praise on it
because it is a little generic and predictable, however if you are just looking
for a film to entertain you for a couple of hours then you can do far worse
than this.
Final verdict: 3 Stars. A safe bet.
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