Film Safe Haven

[Poochie Tenharmsel]

SafeHaven is a 2013 American romantic fantasy drama thriller film starring Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel and Cobie Smulders. The film marks the final film role for actor Red West. It was released theatrically in North America on February 14, 2013. The film was directed by Lasse Hallstrm, and is an adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' 2010 novel of the same name. The film was originally set for a February 8 release.[4]

In Southport, North Carolina, she introduces herself as Katie, gets a job as a waitress, and rents a small house on the edge of town. She befriends her neighbor, Jo, and meets Alex Wheatley who operates the local general store. He is a widowed father of two young children, Josh, who has a strained relationship with him, and Lexie.

Katie soon begins a relationship with Alex, becoming a mother figure to Josh and Lexie. Meanwhile, Boston police detective Kevin Tierney prepares wanted posters for "Erin", a woman accused of first-degree murder. Alex sees the poster in the police station and notices the picture bears a striking resemblance to Katie. He confronts her, they fight and break up and she packs to move on.

As Katie is about to leave town, Alex intercepts her, saying he has fallen in love with her, begging her not to leave and promising to keep her safe. Katie reluctantly returns his love, and decides to stay in Southport (though still apprehensive of bringing danger upon his family). She tells him that she fled there to escape her abusive and alcoholic cop husband.

Meanwhile, Kevin is suspended for creating the false wanted posters - for crimes that were not committed - and for drinking on the job. He is Katie's (Erin's) husband, still alive and well. A flashback reveals that on the night Katie ran away, she stabbed Kevin with a knife when he attacked her in a drunken rage. Enraged, he breaks into Katie's former neighbor's home in Boston, getting the phone number to the restaurant where Katie works.

Arriving in time for the town's Fourth of July parade, a severely intoxicated Kevin sees Katie kissing Alex, which enrages him. That evening, she has a dream that as she is standing on the docks watching the fireworks Jo comes up and tells her that "he" is here. Katie wakes up in the convenience store next to a sleeping Lexie when Kevin suddenly appears and confronts her, demanding that she go back with him. She refuses and tells him to leave. Kevin pulls a gun and pours gasoline all over the store, with the intent to burn it down.

Katie buys time by faking sympathy and agreeing to go back with him. When he lets his guard down, she pushes him into the water. A firework spark lands on the gasoline, igniting a fire that engulfs the store. Alex sees the burning store, quickly crosses the harbor by boat, and saves Lexie. Meanwhile, as Katie tries to fight off Kevin, she kills him by shooting him.

After the fire, Alex recovers several letters written by his late wife Carly before she died. They were prepared ahead of time for important events such as Josh's eighteenth birthday and Lexie's wedding day. He also reconciles with Josh.

Alex gives Katie a letter with the words "To Her" on the envelope. It explains that he must be in love to have given her the letter and she hopes that she feels the same, wishing that she could be there with them. Enclosed with the letter is a photo of Alex's late wife. Katie realizes that her neighbor "Jo" was the ghost of Carly watching over them.

The film began principal photography on June 18, 2012 in Wilmington and Southport, North Carolina.[7] Parts of it were filmed in Louisiana and the opening scene with Katie on the Coach America bus is on the Linn Cove Viaduct along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Grandfather Mountain in Linville, North Carolina.

Critical reaction for Safe Haven was mixed.[8][9][10][11] On Rotten Tomatoes it has a rating of 13%, based on reviews from 146 critics, with an average rating of 4.00/10. The consensus reads, "Schmaltzy, predictable, and melodramatic, Safe Haven also suffers from a ludicrous plot twist, making for a particularly ignominious Nicholas Sparks adaptation."[12] On Metacritic the film has a score of 34 out of 100 based on 33 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[13] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+.[14]

Richard Roeper called the film "Bat. Bleep. Crazy." and asks if the filmmakers or a key character is out of her mind. Roeper expresses disbelief at the twist ending, and "how insane the whole thing is". Aside from the twist ending he would have given the film 2.5 stars, but ultimately gives it only 1.5 out of four stars.[16] Peter Bradshaw, writing for The Guardian, called Safe Haven's setting "a sugary vision of small-town America that does not correspond with the real world at any point."[17] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film zero stars out of four, and concluded his review by stating: "I hate Safe Haven. It's a terrible thing to do to your Valentine."[18]

Safe Haven was nominated for a Teen Choice Awards in the category Choice Movie: Romance.[19] Mimi Kirkland received a Young Artist Award nomination in the category "Best Supporting Young Actress in a Feature Film".[20]

I had no plans to see Safe Haven. I wasn't covering the movie for any particular reason, and it seemed, from the trailer and word of mouth, like one I could safely skip. Then I started hearing vague references to its twist ending. Then Matt Singer at IndieWire wrote a piece arguing that maybe some movies should be spoiled in advance -- since knowing that a given twist ending is this ludicrous might convince you to spend money on Safe Haven. After researching what this twist ending actually was, I spent money on Saturday to see Safe Haven.

Let me start by saying that I am not at all disappointed with my decision -- the ending was just as bizarre as advertized. Though, I'm fairly certain my fellow audience members who were there to see a well-constructed story do not share my sentiments. Walking out, I overheard a woman who looked to be in her late 60s ask her husband, "Can you believe it was that bad?" (In response, he shrugged.)

As you saw in the title of this post, we are going to discuss the ending of Safe Haven at length. I suspect you are in one of two camps at this point: (a) you are a Nicholas Sparks fan and you've seen Safe Haven, or (b) you have no intentions of seeing Safe Haven or, if you do, it's only because you're being forced to see it. If you are in the latter group, you may want to stick around.

Julianne Hough plays Katie, a woman on the run who finds, yes, safe haven in North Carolina. What she is running from, we're not sure at first. It appears that she's on the run from the police and, through some misleading flashbacks, it does appear that Katie killed someone -- there's even an APB out for her arrest on murder charges. But, you see, there is a twist! (Not the twist, though.) It turns out that the police officer obsessed with finding Katie is her husband. And it turns out that Katie didn't kill anyone, she only slightly stabbed her husband in self-defense because he's an abusive drunk.

It's funny, when I first started hearing about "the twist," I assumed it would turn out to be the false murder rap. (Like the husband at the movie theater would later do, I shrugged.) Boy, I was wrong.

So, once Katie gets to North Carolina, she befriends a widower named Alex, played by Josh Duhamel. She also befriends her new neighbor, Jo, played by Cobie Smulders. For 80 percent of the movie, it's just scene after scene of Typical Movie Romance -- there are floor painting and conversations about kale. All the while, Katie confides her feelings toward Alex to her new friend, Jo. (This is your last chance to stop reading before we get to the twist.)

So, Jo is a ghost. And not just any ghost; she's the ghost of Alex's dead wife, who wants to make sure that Katie is a serviceable replacement. Now, again, I knew this before I saw Safe Haven, but knowing didn't make the movie any less absurd. (During the reveal, the crowd let out an audible groan.) I couldn't help but wonder what supernatural rules govern the universe of this movie. I mean, the first time we meet Jo, she's peering into the window of Katie's home and seems genuinely startled when Katie sneaks up on her from behind. (Is this possible? Can a living human not only sneak up on a ghost but startle a ghost?) I suppose some clues are there: Jo seems very interested in Alex, Joe never participates in any group events, Jo watches passively (or dickishly) as Katie paints her floor with no help.

This is one of the most insane twists that I've ever seen in a movie. Not because it's a great twist, but because it's so out of left field. Actually, the rather pedestrian notion of "left field" doesn't do this justice. It's more out of left of left field -- you know, where the ball boy sits waiting for foul balls to scoop up and toss into the stands. It's as if that guy all of a sudden came up with this twist. I mean, there is nothing about the tone of Safe Haven that would ever make you think that one of the main characters is a ghost.

Aside from those totally true examples, Safe Haven has the most absurd ending to a movie that I can remember. Adding to this, when Katie realizes that she befriended a ghost, it does not faze her in the least. The look her face seems to say, Huh. Wadd'ya know?

I am not suggesting that you see Safe Haven based on this twist alone -- but I am kind of suggesting that you see Safe Haven based on this twist alone. It's weird. If my mindset had been, "I want to see a romantic movie that made me cry," I would have walked out just as disappointed as the woman I mentioned earlier. But! Going in with the mindset of, "I want to see this batshit-crazy ending for myself that I've been hearing about all week," well, Safe Haven delivered beyond my wildest dreams.

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