Safe Haven

Of course I had to see this film as it was Valentine's Day weekend.This review contains massive spoilers.
It was actually really good, certainly so much better than last year's The Lucky One.
Here, Katie (Julianne Hough) is on the run and details are slowly revealed throughout the film. She hops on a as the police chase after her. The bus is destined for Atlanta, though they make a stop in a seaside town of Southport which is where she ends up staying. She finds a job as a waitress at a local fish restaurant and buys a house in the middle of nowhere. She tries to keep to herself for good reason. But then she meets Alex (Josh Duhamel), who owns the general store in town. Katie meets his daugher, Lexie (Mimi Kirkland, in a brilliant performance from a young child) first and they hit it off fine. Lexie even gives Katie the picture she is drawing. Alex's son, Josh (Noah Lomax), isn't thrilled at all, still missing his mother.
One day Katie comes home from work and sees this woman looking through her windows. Jo (Cobie Smulders) lives near-by and is surprised to find that she has a neighbor. They become friends. Eventually, through the encouragement of Jo, Katie accepts the bicycle present from Alex and eventually they begin a relationship, first as friends and then it becomes something more, as we all knew it would.
But unlike all other Nicholas Sparks movies, this one is sort of a thriller, with real stakes. Kevin (David Lyons) is determined to find Katie and uses interesting and illegal methods to find her. He also basically harasses the neighbors, determined to find her. The part that I found really weird is that he goes into the house where the attack happened and just stays there. Then he has to meet with is boss who places him on suspension without pay, effective immediately as he was drinking on the job and he lied about the arrest warrant for Katie (murder in the first degree). It turns out that Katie isn't really Katie, her real name is Erin and she's this mean policeman's wife. Yikes, didn't see that one coming.
Kevin is determined to find her. But before that can happen, Alex discovers who Katie really is and is devastated as he let her into his life and the lives of his children. But after some thinking, he chases after her (as that always happens in romance films). Katie decides to leave and nothing Jo can say can convince her to stay, but Alex doesn't care about her past and says that he will protect her. Katie decides to stay and she grows closer to Alex as Kevin gets closer to finding her.
On July Fourth, everything comes to a head. Kevin, horribly drunk, arrives in Southport. He even goes to the general store and asks young Lexie if she has seen Erin (he shows her a picture). She says no though he tries to explain that it is wrong to lie to a cop, but she does anyway and is quite good at it. He breaks into the closed fish restaurant and later finds her at the dance, happily dancing with Alex and the kids. Kevin turns away; it makes him sick at how happy she is. But he can't let her go. That evening Alex and Josh (and some of his policeman friends) set-up the fireworks display. Katie walks down to the pier to watch the show and Jo comes to warn her that he's here. However, this turns out to all be a dream, but it is true, he is here. Kevin arrives. She refuses to go with him and pushes him away. If only things could be that easy. He sprinkles the store with gasoline. Katie goes out and says that she will come with him, that she is sorry for everything. She pushes him into the sea, but a spark from the fireworks lands on the gasoline and sets the store ablaze, with little Lexie still inside. Katie tries to rescue her, but Kevin arrives out of the sea and begins his attack on Katie. (He does also have a handgun, scary stuff.) Alex returns to his house and rescues Lexie. Katie continues her fight for her life with Kevin and finally it ends with a gunshot. Alex cries out, fearing that Katie is the one who was killed, but no, it was Kevin. Everyone can get their happy ending.
Now, the reason why Katie is running. She and Kevin did get into a fight, though the evening started out fine but turned quickly sour as Kevin is a hopeless alcoholic and drinks constantly, I don't know how he even functions. They get into a fight and Kevin nearly strangles her but luckily she grabs a knife and stabs him in his stomach, though it is clearly not fatal.
Now, Kevin is dead and everything is fine. While rebuilding the store, Alex goes through the letters his wife wrote before her death from cancer (luckily they were saved in the fire) and finds one labeled To Her. He gives it to Katie and she reads it. Now, this blew my mind. It turns out that Jo is Alex's late wife. Yes, you read that right. Now we all know why only Katie could see her. Jo gives Katie her blessing, wanting her husband to be happy.
Overall, the film was good with good performances from merely decent actors, Duhamel and Hough. This is certainly their best film, though not too much is demanded from each of them, but they are still great. The kids, especially Kirkland are great, though Josh changes quickly from hating Katie to liking her. The camera work is good and the town is wonderful to look at. This is more than love story as it is a thriller also and despite the cheesy parts, it is genuinely good and the chemistry is excellent between the two stars, something that The Lucky One sorely lacked. Grade: B+