Home Entertainment Safe House trailer brings the Souf Afrikan action

Safe House trailer brings the Souf Afrikan action

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Evidently it’s the season for action thrillers… especially those starring Nicolas Cage! (Seeking Justice and Trespass both debut in SA cinemas over the coming fortnight). If you can’t stomach the thought of watching the Horrifically Haired One but sill crave some big screen brutality, you may want to check out Safe House.

Safe House releases on 10 February in the United States AND South Africa, and the film brings the star wattage in the form of Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds. Sure to be of greater interest to local audiences though, is that the film is chiefly set in “exotic” Cape Town – and you can even spot Washington rocking a SAPS uniform briefly during the trailer.

What’s even more amusing in the preview is that Reynolds’s rookie CIA operative is so bummed about being stationed in Cape Town – which has been labelled a “backwater” in film’s official plot synopsis. I’ve yet to hear anyone else complain about relocating to the Mother City. Tut tut, such an ugly, out of control Third World hellhole…

Anyway, in terms of Safe House’s plot, Reynolds’s character, Matt Weston, is the frustrated caretaker of a rarely used CIA safe house. Weston’s world is turned upside down however when deadly CIA renegade Tobin Frost (Washington) is brought in for questioning… after inexplicably turning himself in after a decade on the run.

Before Frost can be treated to a waterboarding welcome, though, mercenaries attack and Weston is forced on the run with Frost. An unlikely alliance develops between the two men as they attempt to work out who they can trust, and who is trying to eliminate them – a terrorist group or, more worryingly, someone within the CIA? Brendan Gleeson, Robert (Terminator 2) Patrick, Sam Shepard and Vera Farmiga all appear in the film as government agents.

Safe House looks decent enough, although I admit up front I’ll be watching this one chiefly to play Spot the Local Landmark. After all, the film’s plot is hardly original for an espionage actioner. Plus, Washington just seems to be rehashing his Oscar-winning Training Day performance, with a few extra shades of darkness applied to his morally corrupt, but terrifyingly astute, mentor persona.

Last Updated: January 24, 2012

3 Comments

  1. Gavin Mannion

    January 24, 2012 at 10:13

    You scared me there, I thought you said Nicholas Cage was in this one as well.. mild panic attack averted

    Reply

  2. Gareth Lagesse

    January 24, 2012 at 11:10

    The movie sounds pretty decent on its own merits, but I’ll be watching it to spot my sister. She was an extra and shared scenes with both Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds. I’m sure that she forgot about her husband for a few hours. 😛

    Reply

  3. Justin Hess

    January 24, 2012 at 16:03

    I’m looking forward to it for the same reasons that every other Capetonian will go and see it – Spot the Landmark, Spot you Friends. 

    Hopefully it wasn’t shot like a travelogue and will feel like Cape Town’s inclusion is just incidental

    Reply

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