Safe Haven

Safe Haven (2013) is about a woman arriving in a small coastal town and hiding her past. Katie boards a bus out of Boston one night. There is blood on her hands and she has cut and dyed her hair. She gets off in a small town in North Carolina, rents a house and starts working in a restaurant. There is a widowed shopkeeper called Alex in the town, living with his two children. She keeps everyone at a distance and then slowly stops. Meanwhile a policeman in Boston is looking for her, and the warrant rests on a genuine criminal record. Who is in the right is kept unclear, and the truth emerges in the second half: she is running from the person she is running from. The first half plays as romantic drama and the second becomes a story about a threat. It is adapted from Nicholas Sparks's novel. Josh Duhamel and Julianne Hough star. Lasse Hallström directed, his second Sparks adaptation. There is a letter and an explanation in the final section, and that move caused argument and became the most criticised thing in the film. An element unexpected in the genre is added and some viewers find it unnecessary. The town, the pier and the sea are the selling point. Domestic violence is treated directly and some scenes are hard. It did well commercially and critics disliked it. It runs 115 minutes. Good for: romantic thrillers, Sparks adaptations, and coastal town texture. Less good for: the domestic violence scenes are distressing and the final move is forced.