Review of The Son of No One (2011) by Hoops2448 — 06 Nov 2011

The Son of No One tells that tale of a police officer (Channing Tatum) who did some terrible things when he was a boy and is now repenting but someone is telling a newspaper about the incidents and it threatens to expose him and ruin his new life with his wife (Katie Holmes) and daughter.

That being said the best thing about Son of No One is the story and the ideas and questions it poses. It does actually leave you thinking at the end. However that being said the ending itself is so remarkably over the top and idiotic it stops you asking those questions for some time because you are too busy trying to unravel the stupidity you just endured.

The acting is wooden at the best of times with the best performance coming from 30 Rock's Tracy Morgan as a mentally damaged man who is scarred from the events of his childhood. The script is passable and does a decent job of managing the multiple characters even though some of them are entirely redundant (Juliette Binoche).

This could have been a decent little film with a rewrite of the end and a few tweaks to the pace. The main problem is the pacing of the film which is trying so hard for a dark tone that it slows down considerably making The Son of No One, one of the slowest movie experiences ever.

Its just so painfully dull at times that a scene that should come off as shocking just makes you long for the end. Its a shame because it has a lot going for it but it was just let down by the actors, the ending and the unbearable slowness.