Safe Haven - Wie ein Licht in der Nacht

Great suspenseful romance, great casting and beautiful location. Acting is great, characters are great- in the mood for a good romance- Nicolas Sparks is your man. Can't see how anyone can have anything to gripe about in this film.

I really enjoyed this romantic thriller, as it kept me guessing until it's explosive end! I appreciated how colourful the filming locations were and the look and feel like a real film. I also liked the plot, one where a mysterious young woman named Katie (Julianne Hough) escapes from somewhere and arrives in a delightful town called Southport, North Carolina. The town, itself, feels like you could live there. Although the Katie character is so secretive about the reason why she's there, she has bits and pieces of memories of a life she left behind, but as she falls in love with a store owner named Alex (Josh Duhamel), everything comes to a head. The few characters were great and supporting actors. Sadly, it was noted that this was actor Red West's final role before he passed away in 2017.

'Safe Haven' is from the same author as romantic classic 'The Notebook.' 'Safe Haven' is not exactly as generic as 'The Notebook' but it does qualify as pretty boring in terms of cinematic exploration.

Despite the story – on paper – seeming fairly interesting and relatively unique to the romantic genre, the film still manages to bore you for the first hour of it. In fact, the last 30 minutes of the film are sadly the most interesting. Before that we have endless conversations that seem pointless and clichéd, naff romantic gestures and unrealistic characters. Domestic abuse is sadly a very real problem for many but this film somehow makes the issue seem very unrealistic and as something so dramatic it could never happen in real life. Beautiful people deal with their problems in a beautiful, idyllic small town very quickly and very easily, it isn't exactly interesting.

The acting was a lot better than I had expected; Julianne Hough was a bit flat in some scenes but her performance wasn't bad – just not memorable. Josh Duhamel gave a fairly good performance; he was not playing a pretty face with zero background like he has done in other films and he managed to show he can act with at least a little depth. David Lyons gave the best performance in the film but unfortunately had the least amount of screen time. Playing the creepy, alcoholic, abusive husband, he made the final act worth watching and was quite scary.

Overall, the film certainly is not a bad film; it just isn't a very interesting or memorable one. It's full of clichés and there are not many emotional, heart-warming scenes so it is a little bit bland.

I thoroughly enjoyed this as I do most Nicholas Sparks adaptions. You basically know what your going to get going in so you can't complain too much. There's star crossed romance, a small North Carolina town, a body off water (usually including a boat ride, a rain storm or at least some kissing in the rain), a demented ex-boyfriend or husband, a kid and/or an older grandma or uncle type person. (Red West in this case) -I remember him from 'Roadhouse', he hasn't aged at all.

This story was more of a drama/thriller than most of Sparks' straight out romances and reminded me very much of that Julia Roberts movie 'Sleeping with the Enemy'. The story follows a woman on the run who starts a new life in a small (North Carolina) town and reluctantly falls for a widowed father. It's suspenseful, full of twists and turns, some mystery and a big twist at the end -which after reading the book I'd been curious if they'd even include in the movie because its so random.

I enjoyed both Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel, their romance and chemistry was good, not great or epic (The Notebook) but nice, believable.

I also really enjoyed David Lyons, who takes on the tasty role of the bad guy here. He's the kind of character you love to hate and it was intriguing watching him slowly unravel into an alcoholic haze in his hunt for Katie.

And (despite myself) I liked the ending with the letter "to her." Now that was a real Nicholas Sparks moment. 6/16/15

if you are looking for a love movie then you had made the right choice this movie is a simple story yet good story lining not as well as your expectations but you will love it. if your hoping for a second notebook you have to know its not that good...

okay maybe Julianne Hough is not the right actress to be in this role but she did her best and you may like her innocence in her role but i didn't like her so much...

Directed by Lasse Hallström, the movie will teach us that in the darkest hour, love is the only light that shines there in… the dark…or something like that. An affirming and suspenseful story about a young woman's struggle to love again description will work out just fine...

i don't want to talk so much about the movie go watch it what are you waiting for and maybe you will use some tissues so go for it and have a good time...

its my first review and I'm not good as well in English hope it helps tank you for reading...