DVD Reviews: The Son of No One

Do we need another cop drama?  No.  I cannot count how many I have seen.  The key to all cop dramas are the characters, the plot to me is completely secondary.  If we cannot latch on to the characters the plot just won’t matter.  I like Dito Montiel as a director (I may catch flack for this) but his first movie is one of my favorites of the decade.  With this in mind I thought this film is pretty good, at least average. 

A rookie cop is assigned to the 118 Precinct in the same district where he grew up. The Precinct Captain starts receiving letters about two unsolved murders that happened many years ago in the housing projects when the rookie cop was just a kid. These letters bring back bad memories and old secrets that begin to threaten his career and break up his family.

Channing Tatum delivers what may be his most even and steady performance to date, certainly far improved from those dreadful G.I. Joe days. Liotta and Pacino live and breathe this sort of stuff, but it’s easy to read their disinterest in every scene, whether relaxed or in the middle of the movies bloody finale.

The Son of No One incorporates all of the cop movie clichés, and accomplishes little more than adding another name to the growing list of “Dark and Gritty Cop” movies that are a dime a dozen and that only rarely yield a true gem, like Training Day. The end result is a movie on the edge of relevance but that falls on the wrong side, despite a fair twist ending and a noble effort to squeeze in a few original dynamics amidst all of the tired elements.

It seems as if the movie never finds its rhythm because neither the plot nor the characters are themselves capable of finding that rhythm. The movie seems somehow short, missing one more layer to truly drive it all home and bring it all together.

The movie looks and sounds amazing but unfortunately is lacking some special features.  The commentary is weak not giving us information that we want.  The only other feature is some blah-extended scenes.

Overall it’s an ok watch a good rental night if you don’t feel like watching Training Day again.  It is much better than other dark cop flicks of late but still there are many plot holes that are a bit of a turn off.