Mill
Creek Entertainment has released a Blu-ray edition of Universal Pictures’ Safe
House from 2012.This spy thriller
features a first-rate cast including Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera
Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Ruben Blades and Sam Shepard.
Directed
by Sweden’s Daniel Espinoza, the story concerns the capture and escape of a
former CIA operative who possesses damning evidence that his superiors are
spilling secrets to anyone with a large bank account.The script is by David Guggenheim and may
remind viewers of Matt Damon’s Bourne films.
Ryan
Reynolds plays Matt Weston, a young CIA agent stuck on housekeeping duty at an
empty safe house in Capetown, South Africa. He's restless and eager for a more important
post in a less isolated location. The
house doesn't see much action, nor does Weston apart from conjugal visits from
his gorgeous girlfriend played by Nora Arnezeder. That is, until the CIA brings in Tobin Frost (Denzel
Washington), a rogue agent wanted for selling state secrets to the highest
bidder.
Right
off the bat we learn that Frost is highly skilled at manipulating those around
him as his captors are intimidated by his history with the agency.He is calm and recognizes that the agents
escorting him to the safe house are following all the standard procedures.In one tense scene Frost is tortured by
waterboarding as the agents need to know what information he has shared with
the enemy.
It
soon becomes apparent that Frost’s contacts on the other side are not too happy
with him either as a squad of assassins arrives at the supposedly secure
location. Weston and Frost manage to escape before the gunmen swarm the
building. It's now Weston's
responsibility to bring his charge back to the American embassy in one piece. Not an easy task for a rookie, considering
Frost's attempts to ditch his captor and their pursuers' attempts to kill them
before they reach safety.
The
remainder of the film is one gigantic chase throughout Capetown as it revealed there
is a mole within the agency feeding details to the other side.Car chases, gun battles and hand-to-hand
fights abound as Weston begins to doubt Frost’s guilt.At one point, Frost tries to confuse his
captor by saying “They’re going to put their arm around you and tell you things
like ‘You did a decent job, son.We’ll
take it from here.’That’s when you know
you’re screwed.â€After hearing that line
you know one of the bosses will actually say it.
The
double agent within the CIA is soon revealed and a smashing fight scene along
with a couple of surprising plot twists bring the story to a satisfying
conclusion.
Denzel
Washington demonstrates why he is a two-time Academy Award winner with his
performance in this film.He’s cagey and
understated in his portrayal of Frost and viewers are never quite sure if he’s
a traitor or not.With this role and his
appearances in the two Equalizer movies, Washington is fast becoming another
action star in the manner of Keanu Reeves’ assassin in the John Wick adventures.
Ryan
Reynolds takes a straight-laced approach as Weston, the bored safe house
monitor suddenly thrust into the center of an international espionage
incident.He relies on his training and
instructions from his handler played by Brendan Gleeson.Weston begins to question his superiors as
Frost gets inside his head sowing doubts.
Sam
Shepard and Vera Farmiga are serviceable as CIA leaders back at Quantico
Headquarters although there is not enough development to make them truly
interesting characters.Ruben Blades has
a small, but memorable role as a document forger that Frost contacts in an
attempt to leave South Africa.Nora
Arnezeder is criminally underutilized as Weston’s physician girlfriend.Her role requires her to be annoyed most of
the time.
The
thugs chasing Tobin are stereotypical Middle Eastern villains who are highly
skilled at killing several hapless CIA agents.The script focuses on Frost and Weston and their mano y mano encounters
as both adversaries and allies.This is
the crux of the story and director Espinoza keeps it moving at a breakneck
pace.The violence is bone crushing, but
not overly bloody.
Editor
Richard Pearson deserves much credit for keeping the action at a warp speed
level throughout the entire film.Most
of the time I find these quick cut thrillers annoying and hard to watch.Michael Bay’s frenetic movies come to mind
when everything looks a trailer for a second rate action flick.Pearce keeps the pace without giving viewers
a migraine, and he is helped by cinematographer Oliver Wood who doesn’t allow
the individual cuts to go all shaky cam on us.Wood also uses tight framing to provide a feeling of desolation in many
of the location shots even though the story is mostly set in a major city.
Composer
Ramin Djawadi provides a wonderful score for the film that utilizes styles and
instrumentation reflecting the film’s setting in South Africa.Music is sometimes not noticed in action and
chase scenes until those brief moments when there are no sound effects from the
cars and guns.There would be awkward
breaks without the music to fill in the blanks.
Safe
House is a terrific film for the stunts and shootout sequences which more than
compensate for the lack of character development.You may not always know what is going on, but
your interest is definitely captured by the cat and mouse game between the two
main characters.The bigger the screen
and the louder the sound, the more you will enjoy this movie.
The
Blu-ray disc issued by Mill Creek Entertainment deserves kudos for the
presentation of the film.The video
quality is terrific with just enough of a gritty quality to put an edge on all
scenes.The 5.1 sound mix is loud and heavy
on the bass.Explosions will jump out at
those viewers using higher end surround systems.Fans of Blu-ray extras will be disappointed,
however, as there are none with the exception of optional English
subtitles.However, the film itself
looks fantastic and, as drive-in critic Joe Bob Briggs might say, things blow
up real good.