Safe House is a 2012 American action thriller film directed by Daniel Espinosa, written by David Guggenheim, and starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds. The film follows Matt Weston (Reynolds), a CIA officer on a low-level posting in Cape Town, South Africa, who is in charge of a safe house where the CIA is interrogating Tobin Frost (Washington), a veteran operative accused of betraying the agency. When the safe house is attacked by mercenaries, Weston flees with Frost in his charge. As the team of killers, who seem to be one step ahead of the pair, track them throughout Cape Town, Weston wonders whom to trust. Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Rubén Blades, Nora Arnezeder and Robert Patrick co-star.
Safe House was Espinosa's first English-language film. Filming took place on location in Cape Town. The film premiered in New York City on February 7, 2012, and was released in U.S. theaters on February 10, 2012, by Universal Pictures. The film earned mixed reviews, with praise for Washington and Reynolds' performances, but negative criticisms for the screenplay and the editing of the action scenes. Nevertheless, the film was a commercial success, earning $208 million worldwide against an $85 million budget.
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Plot
In Cape Town, South Africa, junior CIA officer Matt Weston is serving as a "housekeeper", an operative in charge of securing and maintaining a local CIA safe house in case of an operation. He calls his mentor and immediate superior David Barlow, enquiring about a station in Paris. He hopes to move there with his live-in girlfriend Ana, a young French physician about to start her residency. Barlow tells him he is likely underqualified for the position, which frustrates Matt as he has not had a "houseguest" during his year-long tenure and thus has been unable to gain field experience. Barlow promises to revisit the issue in a few months.
Elsewhere in Cape Town, ex-CIA NOC operative turned international criminal Tobin Frost acquires a data storage device from rogue MI6 officer Alec Wade. A team of mercenaries attacks them and kills Wade. Frost flees and, out of options, surrenders to the American consulate.
A team led by veteran Daniel Kiefer transfers Frost to Weston's safe house in order to interrogate him for intelligence before he returns to the US. Weston watches uneasily as Kiefer's team waterboards Frost. The mercenaries, led by Vargas, attack the safe house and kill Kiefer and his team. Weston escapes with Frost and heads to the U.S. Consulate.
En route, Weston contacts Barlow at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, along with Catherine Linklater, the operative in charge of Frost's interrogation and Kiefer's superior, and CIA Deputy Director Harlan Whitford, who is overseeing the operation. Linklater, under advisement from Barlow, orders Weston to lie low and await further instructions.
Weston contacts Ana, giving her a cover story that his office has been threatened and suggesting she stay with friends when it appears their apartment is under surveillance. Barlow tells him to go to the Metrorail station at Green Point Stadium, where he retrieves a GPS device containing the location of another safe house, but Frost creates a diversion and escapes. Weston, detained by the police, escapes and is forced to return fire at them.
Frost's escape is reported. After hearing that Weston fired at the police, Linklater orders him to visit the nearest American embassy for debriefing. When Whitford tells him, "We'll take it from here", Weston decides to pursue Frost himself, as Frost had warned him hearing such phrasing would indicate when Weston should begin to fear for his own safety. While traveling together to South Africa to handle the situation directly, Linklater suggests that Weston has joined with Frost, a notion which Barlow refutes.
Cast
Denzel Washington as Tobin Frost
Ryan Reynolds as Matt Weston
Vera Farmiga as Catherine Linklater
Brendan Gleeson as David Barlow
Sam Shepard as Harlan Whitford
Rubén Blades as Carlos Villar
Nora Arnezeder as Ana Moreau
Robert Patrick as Daniel Kiefer
Liam Cunningham as Alec Wade
Joel Kinnaman as Keller
Fares Fares as Vargas
Production
In February 2010, it was reported Universal Pictures had acquired the David Guggenheim penned spec script Safe House, about a young CIA agent who must find a way to transport a dangerous prisoner to another safe house when the one he works at is compromised, with Scott Stuber set to produce. Universal acquired the script following a heated bidding war between several other producers and studios. In July of that year, Denzel Washington had entered talks to star in the film with Daniel Espinosa set to direct and perform a rewrite on the script with Guggenheim. Safe House appeared on the 2010 Black List of best unproduced screenplays. By August, Ryan Reynolds was the front runner for the role opposite Washington. In February 2011, it was reported that Liam Cunningham, Brendan Gleeson, Robert Patrick and Sam Shepard had joined the cast. Prior to the rewrites, the script originally took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Soundtrack
Ramin Djawadi composed the score to the film.
All music by Ramin Djawadi.
Songs used in the film but not included in the soundtrack album were:
"Rebel Blues" performed by Lëk Sèn
"No Church in the Wild" performed by Kanye West & Jay-Z featuring Frank Ocean
Release
The film premiered in New York City on February 7, 2012, and was released in U.S. theaters on February 10, 2012. Safe House was released to Blu-ray and DVD on June 5, 2012, in the United States.
Reception
Box office
Safe House grossed $126.4 million in the United States, and $81.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $208.1 million.
Safe House earned $13.6 million on opening day, and a total of $40.2 million over the weekend, finishing second behind The Vow. The film was the second-biggest opener for Washington, behind American Gangster ($43.6 million), and third-best for Reynolds behind X-Men Origins: Wolverine ($85.1 million) and Green Lantern ($53.2 million), respectively. In its second weekend, it finished first at $23.6 million. It became the second film in 2012 to cross the $100 million mark domestically after The Vow and the fourth film to cross the mark worldwide after Underworld: Awakening, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, and The Vow.
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 52% of 192 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Safe House stars Washington and Reynolds are let down by a thin script and choppily edited action sequences." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 52 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.
Future
In September 2012, it was announced that Universal had hired screenwriter David Guggenheim to write a script for a possible sequel.
