Film: SAFE HOUSE Cast: Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Ruben Blades, Robert Patrick, Nora Arnezeder.Director: Daniel Espinosa

Ronita Torcato

Spy thriller Safe House, directed by Daniel Espinosa from a script by David Guggenheim, is reminiscent of the Bourne movies.( Interestingly, Safe House cameraman Oliver Wood also shot The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum.) Needless to say, the presentable Mr Reynolds could give Mr Matt Damon a run for his money.

Needless to add, theres never a dull moment in Safe House, what with its story of rogue CIA agents leavened by romance.I used to think a safe house was a place of safety for those en route to rehab with a new identity. But the titular residence is anything but a place of refuge for Tobin Frost ( Denzel Washington, fabulous) a covert agent on the run.

In Cape Town, South Africa, where hes obtained highly classified, damning info, he surrenders and is taken to a safe house, minded by newbie agent Matt Weston ( Ryan Reynolds) who flees with the waterboarded Frost, when a gang of assassins bursts into house, slaughtering the rest of the agents.

Meanwhile, at the CIA HQ in Virginia, agents Catherine Linklater ( Vera Farmiga), David Barlow ( Brendan Gleeson) and Harlan Whitford ( Sam Shepard ) try to figure out how to nab the two. We figure out that deception is the name of the game in an action thriller that says spies are corrupt and not very different from criminals.In other words, Safe House posits that this is a morally complex world in which the dying Tobin tells Matt to '' be better than me.'' We hope he does.