Safe House is a 2012 action thriller film directed by Daniel Espinosa, starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds. It was released on February 10, 2012 in North America by Universal Pictures.^[4] Filming took place in Cape Town, South Africa.

Plot

Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington), an ex-CIA agent turned international criminal, acquires a file from renegade MI6 agent Alec Wade (Liam Cunningham). Attacked by the mercenary Vargas (Fares Fares), he enters an American consulate and is moved to a CIA safe house in Cape Town, South Africa.

The "housekeeper" is Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds), a low-level agent. He watches Frost's interrogation and waterboarding by Daniel Kiefer (Robert Patrick). When Vargas and his men attack the house, he executes Kiefer, and Weston escapes with Frost captive. Weston contacts his mentor, David Barlow (Brendan Gleeson), at CIA headquarters. Catherine Linklater (Vera Farmiga), another CIA operative, intercepts the call and orders Weston to lay low and call back later.

Weston hides with Frost and calls his girlfriend Ana Moreau (Nora Arnezeder), telling her to leave the house. Linklater later tells Weston to go to Cape Town Stadium to retrieve a GPS device with the location of a nearby safe house. He retrieves the GPS at the stadium, but Frost creates a diversion and escapes by disguising himself as a policeman. Weston, detained by the police, escapes but can't catch Frost.

Weston is ordered to visit the nearest American embassy for debriefing. Instead he meets with Ana, where he reveals that he is a CIA agent and sends her away for her safety. He then locates the house of Frost's contact, Carlos Villar (Rubén Blades), where Frost is attacked by Vargas and his team, but escapes with Weston's help. They learn that Vargas is actually working for the CIA, which is seeking to retrieve the files Frost received from Wade. It is revealed that the files contain detailed information of corrupt activities by many intelligence agencies, including the CIA itself, and that Weston's own superiors may be implicated. Frost is taken to the new safe house by Weston, where Weston is attacked by the housekeeper, Keller (Joel Kinnaman). After much struggle, Weston kills Keller but is badly wounded in their fight. Frost leaves Weston who then passes out from the wounds sustained fighting Keller. Meanwhile, Linklater has arrived in South Africa with Barlow to discover who leaked the location of the first safe house, but is murdered by Barlow, who goes to the safe house and reveals that he is Vargas' employer. He confirms that the file contains incriminating evidence against him, and encourages Weston to lie about what has happened. Frost returns to rescue Weston by killing Vargas and his men but is shot by Barlow, who is then shot by Weston. The dying Frost gives Weston the file and tells him he is better than him.

Back in the U.S., Weston meets with CIA Director Harlan Whitford (Sam Shepard), who informs Weston that unflattering facts about the CIA must be removed from his report, but that he will be promoted. He asks Weston about the file's location but Weston denies having been told about it by Frost. Whitford states that whoever has those files will have many enemies. Weston leaves, then leaks the files to the Internet, incriminating personnel from many intelligence agencies, including Whitford.

Later on, Weston sees Ana across a street in Paris, France. She reads a note passed to her from him, looks up at Weston, and they both make eye contact. She slowly smiles and then he leaves.

Cast

• Denzel Washington as Tobin Frost^[5]
• Ryan Reynolds as Matt Weston^[6]
• Vera Farmiga as Catherine Linklater^[6]
• Brendan Gleeson as David Barlow^[6]
• Sam Shepard as Harlan Whitford^[6]
• Rubén Blades as Carlos Villar^[6]
• Nora Arnezeder as Ana Moreau^[6]
• Robert Patrick as Daniel Kiefer^[6]
• Liam Cunningham as Alec Wade^[6]
• Joel Kinnaman as Keller^[6]
• Fares Fares as Vargas^[6]
• Sebastian Roché as Heissler^{[citation needed]}
• Jake McLaughlin as Miller^[6]
• Nicole Sherwin as Whitford's Assistant^[6]
• Robert Hobbs as Morgan^[6]

Reception

Safe House has earned mixed reviews from critics. The film currently holds a 54% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 166 reviews, and an average rating of 5.7/10, with the consensus stating: "Though Safe House is anchored by strong performances from Washington and Reynolds, they're let down by a thin script and choppily edited action sequences that betray the film's unfortunate lack of imagination." ^[7]

Box office

As of May 17, 2012, the film has earned $126,181,630 in the U.S. and $75,395,362 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $201,576,992.

Safe House earned $13.6 million on opening day, and $40.1 million over the weekend including $10.5 million overseas, ranking in second place to The Vow. The film was Denzel Washington's second-biggest opener, behind American Gangster ($43,565,115) and Ryan Reynolds' third-biggest opener, behind X-Men Origins: Wolverine ($85,058,003) and Green Lantern ($53,174,303). In its second weekend, it became #1 at the box office with $23,641,575 beating The Vow. It is the second movie in 2012 to cross the $100 million mark domestically behind The Vow and the fourth film to cross the $100 million mark worldwide behind Underworld: Awakening, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and The Vow.

References

External links

• Safe House at the Internet Movie Database
• Safe House at Rotten Tomatoes
• Safe House at Box Office Mojo