‘Safe House,’ An Exceptional Thriller

The newest Denzel Washington vehicle tells the story of Tobin Frost (Washington), a legendary espionage criminal and the young, inexperienced CIA agent who has to look after him (Ryan Reynolds). The film’s impressive cast also includes Robert Patrick, Brendan Gleeson, Rubén Blades, as well as Academy Award nominees Vera Farmiga and Sam Shepard. Unlike other government oriented thrillers, “Safe House” is action packed with unexpected twists and turns.

Most of the film takes place in South Africa where Frost turns himself in to authorities, protecting himself from an extreme threat for reasons unknown until near the end of the film. When converted to the safe house watched over by Matt Weston (Reynolds), the attackers strike again leaving Weston and Frost on the run. Being a master in psychology and the like, Frost is very conniving and persuasive – leaving Weston with a difficult task to keep him in line.

With a fitting score by Ramin Djawadi, the stakes seem even higher as these two characters both fight for their lives. The film is reminiscent of a film by Tony Scott, but is in fact directed by filmmaker Daniel Espinosa. It is a very gritty film that is pretty dark and viciously violent throughout. The tagline to the film, “No One Is Safe,” is fully justified in that anyone can and will die at any given time.

The overall theme to the film that is found out is typical of films having to do with similar subject matter in that it is very pessimistic in the depiction of corrupt government institutions. The way that it is exploited, however, is something that was fairly original and memorable. Along with the performance of Washington that is acceptable again and again, “Safe House” is definitely worth seeing. It isn’t exactly the best movie around, but it isn’t exactly what’s expected from the trailer.

“Safe House” is now playing in theaters.