Review of The Son of No One (2011) by Thomas W — 15 Mar 2012
Bland, dull and rather muddled, The Son of No One is a lackluster cop thriller starring Channing Tatum (The Vow, The Eagle, Dear John) as a JUST-post 9/11 cop in Brooklyn who is haunted by demons/memories of his past when a dark secret of his threatens to be revealed in a random NY daily written by a journalist (a miscast Juliette Binoche - The English Patient, Chocolat, Dan in Real Life) out to bring down cop corruption.
Growing up in the projects on the outskirts of NYC, two boys encounter drugs, violence, sexual predators etc. -- one, Jonathan, escapes and becomes a cop (Tatum) and the other , Vincent, languishes there after a few stints in various psych wards (Tracy Morgan - "30 Rock", SNL, Cop Out).
One of the problems with The Son of No One is that none of these characters are fully fleshed-out -- they aren't fully understandable. As for their haunting demons -- we aren't given enough of a background behind their actions to "get" what is actually going on (we SEE something but that isn't enough here).
Helping Jonathan out as a child is Detective Stanford (Al Pacino - The Godfather, Scent of a Woman, Heat) who was the partner of Jonathan's deceased father. All of what happens in1986 has consequences that resurface 16 years later (the present time of the film) -- but there is no real impact as this feels like an empty shell.
It is blank ammo -- there is a bang but no impact. I watched but didn't really care.
This review of The Son of No One (2011) was written by Thomas W on 15 Mar 2012.
The Son of No One has generally received negative reviews.
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