In the world of espionage and counter-espionage, nothing is what it seems. There’s neither black nor white, and as circumstances dictate, a grey area is a gaping hole in the whole equation.
To put it mildly, the thin line between good and evil is blurred, and the morality of right and wrong is interchangeable.
Such is the concept of the film “Safe House“.
The movie starts out with a group of armed men trying to neutralize Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) through a maze of carefully mapped out routes. But clearly, years of experience as US agent and deserter helped him survive ambushes one after another.
It gets totally interesting as an Arab-looking ring-leader control the band of assassins of obviously varied nationalities to take him out. Talk about misdirection. We don’t know at this point who the real villains are except that Frost made a surprising move in turning himself in to the US authorities.
An extended cat and mouse chase here and there, and a high-speed car chase later bring Frost to the US Embassy to seal his fate as a captured traitor.
Now, it was established earlier in the movie that Frost was on the run for quite so many years. It was also explained that he was allegedly selling US secrets to the enemy.
Now a prisoner, a group of men clearly CIA brings him to a safe house managed by a newbie CIA custodian, Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) for interrogation… to extract ‘Intel’ from him. Problem is, the safe house is breached, and the CIA men are wiped out in the process by the same group after Frost.
The safe house ‘guest’ (Frost) escapes unharmed thanks to the quick thinking Weston, or was he (Weston) just lucky?
Both barely escape the attack on a supposedly secure base so close to home as the same cabal engages the duo on a hot pursuit. It was kill or be killed at this point. Now the nagging question: how did that happen?
The question persistently bugs the viewer no end as the movie unravels. Safe House is a masterpiece as far as I’m concerned despite the obviously formulaic plot of espionage thriller flicks.
The superb acting of Denzel Washington as the ‘unreadable’ deserter was genius. It kept the audience guessing until the end. Likewise the tortured and confused gait of Weston is complementary to the whole plot package of the movie.
With both characters leading double lives: Weston as CIA agent doubling as health worker (as far as Weston’s GF is concerned), and Frost as ex-agent, traitor and patriot,, and Weston as ex-agent, traitor and patriot, Safe House was able to establish a clear connection between the two. It was an unholy alliance but as good as the movie’s surprise ending.
The movie drags in certain parts but it’s worth the wait until you come to the conclusion.
