MYST Post #2: Safe Haven

Safe Haven was directed by Lasse Hallstrom and is based on the book written by Nicholas Sparks. The movie starts with a young women fleeing from what looks like a crime scene and she seems to be the killer. She is trying to escape from the police by boarding a bus headed to Atlanta, Georgia and luckily chooses the one bus that is not stopped and searched by the police. The bus makes a stop in the small town of Southport, North Carolina and the woman decides to stay there. That is where the real romance drama begins. Katie, played by Julianne Hough, meets Alex, played by Josh Duhamel, and they instantly make a connection. Alex's wife died a couple years earlier from cancer, leaving Alex as a single parent of two children, Lexie and Josh. Alex does a couple helpful things for Katie and they begin to fall in love with one another. Katie's past comes between them, though, when Alex sees her face on a “wanted for murder” poster and is disappointed that she has been lying to him the whole time. Katie explains that she stabbed her husband in defense during one of his drunken assaults, and Alex accepts the story and vows to protect her. The movie ends with Katie reading a letter that Alex's wife wrote for "the girl" that tells her that Alex really must love her if she is reading the note, and to take care of the children and to take many pictures to document the good times.

          My least favorite scene from the movie was the scene where Katie and Alex meet for the first time. I didn't like the scene because of the camerawork. The shots and angles used didn't match the events happening in the story. The scene was very important because it was the first time Alex and Katie meet, establishing the “love at first sight” factor. The scene should have been shot in close-ups and medium shots, but instead was filmed in wide and extreme wide shots. The camera was placed three aisles back in the convenience store from where the actors were standing. I didn't like the use of the angles because it made me feel distant from the character’s conversation instead of within it, feeling the connection made and the instant love in the actors’ eyes.

          I went into this movie with the impression from my friends that the movie was an amazing love story. Knowing it was based on a Nicholas Sparks book, I was prepared to possibly cry, like I have in all his other book-based movies. I personally don’t like romantic movies, so I was a little skeptical to see it and was disappointed in the movie. I didn't like the Hollywood fantasy and unrealistic plot line. Also, the dialogue was very awkward. I usually like movies that have an awkward main couple because to me it is more realistic to real life couples, but this couple just didn't seem to work at all. The pauses between the lines were too long making the conversations drag on for what seemed like forever. The movie just didn't seem to flow smoothly and jumped around from scene to scene.

          I would give this movie a 2/5 because it was unrealistic, choppy and just like every other love story movie made.  The morale of the story was sweet -- that Alex truly loved Katie and, instead of leaving her when she made a mistake, he forgave her and helped her with her problem.