Trailer Tuesday: Safe House

-

Action thriller Safe House is only really receiving a profile today because of its unusual, "exotic" setting for a Hollywood blockbuster: Cape Town, South Africa.

What's especially amusing is that Ryan Reynolds's rookie CIA operative seems to be so bummed about being stationed in such a "backwater" spot, which is what the official plot synopsis labels SA's Mother City. I've yet to hear anyone else complain about having to relocate to Cape Town. Tut tut, such an ugly, out of control Third World hellhole...


Anyway 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 and traitor Tobin Frost (Denzel 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 for its location - and the ability to play Spot the Local Landmark - as opposed to watching it for its plot, which is hardly original when it comes to espionage actioners. Plus Washington just seems to be rehashing his Oscar-winning Training Day performance again, with a few extra shades of darkness applied to his morally corrupt, older mentor persona.

Safe House opens on 10 February 2012 in North America. The film's South African release date has yet to be announced, but expect it to be around the same period.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is the rebooted Lara Croft gay? Evidence for and against...

-
Image
As some of you know, I’ve been fangirling hard over the new Tomb Raider , the first entry in the video game series since 2008, and ostensibly a reboot for the entire franchise . Taking the form of an origin story, Tomb Raider 2013 depicts the events that transformed a beautiful, if bookish, archaeology graduate into a pistol-packing adventurer with a devil-may-care attitude. We meet Lara Croft as a pretty, fairly ordinary 21 year old, brooding over her work notes, listening to her mp3 player and very much confined to the shadow of her male mentors. By the end of the game, however, she’s taken charge – she’s had to! – and, battered, bruised and bloody, she’s both a survivor and hero, right down to rescuing the princess and carrying her away in her arms. Yeah, this is probably the best point to mention that there will be some Tomb Raider 2013 spoilers in this post, so read ahead with caution. Anyway, I loved the game. Technically it’s near faultless, it looks beautiful, the ov
Read more

Weekend report-back: beach, board games and books

-
Image
So I'm back in the office after a 4 day weekend. And I'm trying not to remind myself that it's almost 3 months until the next public holiday. Bah! Anyway, pop culture didn't play too massive a part in my mini-break. There was braai -ing (expected on National Braai Day), the baking of pretzels in celebration of Oktoberfest ( even if we weren't in Munich this year ), working on the next Girlz 'N' Games comic , and a family lunch to celebrate my mother and cousin's birthdays. A hefty chunk of the weekend however was spent at one of my favourite holiday destinations: the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast. We were celebrating a friend's birthday at his family's holiday flat in Southbroom. So there was much chilling and eating and games playing, as well as kite flying, dolphin spotting and swallowing of saltwater as I flailed around in the choppy, chilly surf. We even managed to find Emo Shell! Anyway, film viewing was neglected this weekend, with the excepti
Read more

Movies today, SA!

-
Image
Despite the fact that 5 new films open in South Africa today, not a single one is worthy of an extended Pick of the Week description. If you haven't seen it yet (like me), go and watch Disney-Pixar's Up instead. If you can't get past a deeply ingrained "grown-up" prejudice against animated films, what about seeking out the Johnny Depp-Christian Bale gangster movie Public Enemies ? Hell, you could even go and watch District 9 again. Just stay away from the mediocrity released this weekend. Yeesh. I Hate Valentine's Day - Nia Vardalos reteams with her My Big Fat Greek Wedding love interest John Corbett for this romantic comedy in which a carefree florist lives by a "5 dates only" rule so a relationship never develops and she never gets hurt. A charming restaurateur, however, forces her to re-evaluate her unusual approach to dating. 17% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes . Karate Kallie - A South African comedy about Kallie, a fat teenager, who is mercilessly
Read more