Released by Universal
Date released: June 4, 2012.
Directed by: Daniel Espinosa
Starring: Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Brendan Gleeson, Vera Farmiga, Sam Shepherd
Year: 2012
Purchase From Amazon

The Movie:

Some storylines just seem to get old in a hurry. Perhaps it's their abuse at the hands of incompetent filmmakers - tough to say. But when a tired premise gets tended to by elements worth their salt it can become surprisingly entertaining. And that's the case with Universal's latest big release, Safe House. Part actioner, part spy drama the film relies on its actors and its action sequences. Thankfully, both are exemplary here.

The movie involves the story of ex-CIA agent-turned-spy-secrets-seller Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) and rookie CIA agent Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds). When Frost, an international fugitive, turns himself in at the US Consulate in South Africa the CIA jumps quickly on bringing him into custody. The closest safe house is manned by an undervalued rookie agent, Weston, and so Frost is brought there under heavily-armed escort - led by Robert Patrick - to find what Frost knows and to extradite him back to the States. The team waterboards Frost and is just settling into the interrogation when the safe house is suddenly attacked. A vicious shootout ensues, leaving the CIA team dead and Frost and his very scared guard Weston on the run.

Frost is an older agent and is very cynical toward the world, as he's also now carrying a secret file that would expose multiple agencies in multiple countries across the globe. Weston is young and idealistic, so the wearied vet is drawn into trying to convert the starry-eyed rookie to the real ways of the world. Again - this isn't anything that hasn't been used very often as a cinematic device before. However, here, both Denzel and Reynolds really give their characters a sympathetic emotional content such that you really do end up rooting for both of them, understanding Weston's idealism as well as the horrible practices and missions that caused Frost to turn.

As it becomes quickly clear to Weston and the rest of the CIA they have someone in their midst who's leaking information. Each move Weston makes with his captive Frost keeps getting intercepted until, ultimately, Frost escapes, putting Weston in the spotlight of local authorities as a fugitive as well. But Frost, wanting to prove himself and a prisoner to his own operating code, goes off protocol and chases Frost on his own. He eventually tracks Frost to a shanty town and arrives just as the bad guys do. In the ensuing fight/chase Frost is injured and while he's recuperating these two men have an opportunity to share more of their backstories together. As close and/or sympathetic as they are to one another, though, they both stick to their original plans - Frost to sell his secret file, Weston to bring Frost to CIA justice.

It's not until the pair reach their final, isolated safe house that they turn to alignment as the depth and extent of the mysterious CIA insider's betrayal becomes evident to them. Their relationship has been so well built up by this point, though, that their camaraderie feels natural and the ensuing action and final scenes are believable for the characters.

Audio/Video/Extras:

The Blu-ray disc from Universal for this film comes pretty well packed with features. The 1080p widescreen (2.40:1) is presented quite beautifully as the film has that current hip “gritty” look to it that often oversaturates scenes with either sun-drenched color or impenetrable blacks. But here these elements are exceptionally well balanced and never clip or go blocky at all. Audio is also capably served up in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 as well as Surround 5.1 in both Spanish and French. DVS is also an option for this disc. Subtitling is available for each of these languages as well and it appears very clean and clearly on the screen.

The extras provide some more details on the action, location and some background that all provide an informative and interesting amount of detail to accompany the film itself. First off is Making Safe House, a :10 min. behind-the-scenes overview; Hand-To-Hand Action describes the fight choreography of the film in an :8 min. segment; Shooting the Safe House Attack looks at the early scene in the film from concept to execution in about :5 min.; Building the Rooftop Chase is a :4 min. summary of the shanty town fight scene mechanics; Behind the Action focuses just on the car chases and what those take, in about :8 min.; Inside the CIA is a :6 min. bio of the film's retired CIA operative and his input on the film; and Safe Harbor: Cape Town describes the film's unique use of Cape Town, South Africa, as the film's setting and all it has to offer in that regard. Since this is a Universal BD you also get an option to just look at bookmarked segments with My Scenes along with options for both DBOX functionality as well as Pocket BLU access, too.

Summary:

Far from your typical dumb action movie Safe House still tells a familiar story but with such care and investment in its characters that its basic plot is easily forgiven. The action scenes are really top-notch, too, making this quite an enjoyable little surprise of a film.