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7/04/2015

The Son of No One (2011) or, The Past Returns!



Channing Tatum looks like he's hung over on the poster for Dito Montiel's The Son of No One

QUICK REVIEW:

John spends his childhood in the horrific Queensboro Projects in New York City, where he accidentally kills two scumbags, just as he is about to escape with his friend Vinnie. 16 years later, his past comes back to haunt him.

Son of No One starts really strong: Particularly compelling are the scenes of the young John and Vinnie, played by Jake Cherry (Hits (2014)) and Brian Gilbert (Last Night of the Year (2015)). Everything seems promising, but then it turns out that the script, by writer-director Dito Montiel (Boulevard (2014)), is loaded with problems, (and not the good kind):
Juliette Binoche (Godzilla (2014)) does well with a NY-accent, but the way she blurps out the title of the film in a line is a shame. SPOILER Later Al Pacino's (Heat (1995)) character's godson dies, who has done everything for him, yet Pacino just continues to scream plot-relevant lines to our lead Channing Tatum (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)). He acts for the third time in a Montiel picture here, following A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints and Fighting (2009). Tracy Morgan (30 Rock (2006-13)) appears in a dramatic part SPOILER as a character who is both schizophrenic and carrying out an extremely determined vengeance campaign at the same time, - not very believable either.
- Add to this the uninspired typecasting of Ray Liotta (Goodfellas (1990)) and Katie Homes (Jack and Jill (2011)).
The Son of No One is a jumbled film that could have been so much better.

Related review:

Dito Montiel: A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006) or, Leaving Home


While Dito Montiel's The Son of No One is undoubtedly a dubious film, - it does have Channing Tatum in uniform going for it


Watch the trailer for the movie here

Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 1.3 mil. $
= Mega-flop
[The film, shot on location in New York, closed Sundance to a poor reception that resulted in a changed ending. It got generally bad reviews and made a stunning low of less than 30k $ in the US. Impressively, Montiel has been heading two big films since: Empire State (2013) and Boulevard (2014), and soon Man Down (2015), an apocalyptic film.]

What do you think of The Son of No One?

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