Safe House is a 2012 action thriller film directed by Daniel Espinosa, starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds. It was released on February 10, 2012 in North America by Universal Pictures.
Filming took place in Cape Town, South Africa
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Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington), an ex-CIA agent turned to an international criminal, acquires a file from renegade MI6 agent Alec Wade (Liam Cunningham). Attacked by the mercenary Vargas (Fares Fares), he enters an American consulate and is moved to a CIA safe house in Cape Town, South Africa.
The "housekeeper" is Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds), a low-level agent. He watches Frost's interrogation and torture by Daniel Kiefer (Robert Patrick).
When Vargas and his men attack the house, he executes Kiefer, and
Weston escapes with Frost captive. Weston contacts his mentor, David
Barlow (Brendan Gleeson), at CIA headquarters. Catherine Linklater (Vera Farmiga), another CIA operative, intercepts the call and orders Weston to lay low and call back later.
Weston hides with Frost and calls his girlfriend Ana Moreau (Nora Arnezeder), telling her to leave the house. Linklater later tells Weston to go to Cape Town Stadium
to retrieve a GPS device with the location of a nearby safe house. He
retrieves the GPS at the stadium, but Frost creates a diversion and
escapes by disguising himself as a policeman. Weston, detained by the
police, escapes but can't catch Frost.
Weston is ordered to visit the nearest American embassy for
debriefing. Instead he meets with Ana, where he reveals that he is a CIA
agent and sends her away for her safety. He then locates the house of
Frost's contact, Carlos Villar (Rubén Blades),
where Frost is attacked by Vargas and his team, but escapes with
Weston's help. They learn that Vargas is actually working for the CIA,
which is seeking to retrieve the files Frost received from Wade. It is
revealed that the files contain detailed information of corrupt
activities by many intelligence agencies, including the CIA itself, and
that Weston's own superiors may be implicated. Frost is taken to the new
safe house by Weston, where Weston is attacked by the housekeeper,
Keller (Joel Kinnaman).
After much struggle, Weston kills Keller but is badly wounded in their
fight. Frost leaves Weston who then passes out from the wounds sustained
fighting Keller. Meanwhile, Linklater has arrived in South Africa with
Barlow to discover who leaked the location of the first safe house, but
is murdered by Barlow, who goes to the safe house and reveals that he is
Vargas' employer. He confirms that the file contains incriminating
evidence against him, and encourages Weston to lie about what has
happened. Frost returns to rescue Weston by killing Vargas and his men
but is shot by Barlow, who is then shot by Weston. The dying Frost gives
Weston the file and tells him he is better than him.
Back in the U.S., Weston meets with CIA Director Harlan Whitford (Sam Shepard),
who informs Weston that unflattering facts about the CIA must be
removed from his report, but that he will be promoted. He asks Weston
about the file's location but Weston denies having been told about it by
Frost. Whitford states that whoever has those files will have many
enemies. Weston leaves, then leaks the files to the Internet,
incriminating personnel from many intelligence agencies, including
Whitford.
Later on, Weston sees Ana across a street in Paris, France.
She reads a note passed to her from him, looks up at Weston, and they
both make eye contact. She slowly smiles and then he leaves.
