Safe House is anything but Safe.

By Kristine Semptimphelter
February 29, 2012

Ryan Reynolds plays Mathew Weston a “housekeeper” in Safe House directed by Daniel Espinosa.

The 2012 action thriller “Safe House” is nothing close to safe. This movie, starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds, is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. The movie was released on Friday, Feb. 10 by Swedish director Daniel Espinosa.

“Safe House” opens with Matthew Weston, played by Reynolds, working out his frustration alone in a small room, later found out to be the safe house. Weston calls his mentor, CIA agent David Barlow, played by Brendan Gleeson, about an opening for a case officer position. Barlow says that there are 37 applicants with more experience than Weston, but that Barlow will take care of him.

Weston greets his girlfriend, Ana, played by Nora Arnezeder and gets to work. Ana believes that her boyfriend is a doctor, but he secretly works as a CIA agent. Weston goes through a storefront and gets retina-scanned and a secret passageway leads him to an underground high-tech safe house. His job is the “housekeeper” and the CIA is the “landlord.”

You later meet the infamous Tobin Frost(Washington), an ex-CIA agent turned international criminal. Frost acquired a file detailing the criminal activities of several worldwide intelligence agents. The file was given to him by a MI-6 agent, whose name is Alec. Alec gives him a box containing a microchip in a vial. Frost takes the package and rushes to the bathroom. He examines the chip and authenticates it. Unknown to Frost, he is being tailed. But since he is too smart to let anyone ambush him, he defeats the bad guy and leaves the building.

Frost then meets with a buyer who looks just like him and uses this man as a decoy in order to leave the premises safe and unharmed. The buyer then leaves and is killed by a sniper. Frost knew someone was following him but he did not know why. He then finds Alec, who drives him to safety while explaining that he was in no way responsible for the setup. Alec is then shot and killed by the same sniper and Frost has to make a quick getaway. Seeking safety, Frost is forced to evacuate the small Cape Town, South Africa and hide out in the U.S. Consulate. Knowing that the CIA will soon find him, Frost surrenders upon entering by saying, “I am Tobin Frost.”

CIA agent Catherine Linklater, played by Vera Farmiga, gets a call from the U.S. Consulate and gives instructions to lock down the site and send an extraction team to bring Tobin to the United States. Linklater goes to a situation room with CIA head and chief Harlan Whitford, played by Sam Shepard. The team decides on where to send Frost and who is the nearest field agent who can take on the job.

Weston is still locked up inside the safe house, but then gets a call about a last minute “reservation.” He sees on the computer screen that the infamous Tobin Frost is being brought in and arms himself. The extraction team, headed by Daniel Kiefer, played by Robert Patrick, brings a covered Tobin Frost into the interrogation room and prepared him for waterboarding, telling Weston to cut the surveillance cameras.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Kristine Semptimphelter

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Perspectives

Special Project

Title IX Redefined Website

Produced by Cabrini Communication
Class of 2024

Listen Up

Season 2, Episode 3: Celebrating Cabrini and Digging into its Past

watch

Scroll to Top
Share via
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap