Now out on DVD/Blu-ray a gut wrenching film called The Son of No One starring Channing Tatum, Al Pacino and up and coming star Jake Cherry. The movie takes on a different look than when it was released in the movie theatre and that’s for the better. Being on DVD has it’s advantages in that I was able to switch on the subtitles during the more aggressive parts to catch all the dialog and rewinding helps to keep the many characters in order.
The film opens in a depressed tenement section of Queens New York with a startling film shot of a crazed man going up the stairs of the rundown housing project looking for his gun. Climbing several flights he busts into an apartment ranting. When he enters the bathroom of the apartment he sees young Jonathan White (Jake Cherry) hiding in a bathtub and confronts him. The scared Jonathan shoots the man and he dies. His friend Vinnie (Brian Gilbert) who witnesses the tragedy helps Jonathan get rid of the body.
Fast forward 17 years and we find White (now played by Channing Tatum) has worked his way up as a policeman being transferred from a good neighborhood to Queens, the neighborhood in which he grew up. A ‘good’ cop with a lot going for him he gets handed a case that’s being reopened due to the prodding of a Queens newspaper reporter Loren Carter (Juliette Binoche). So begins this suspenseful drama that twists and turns right up to the final ‘shot’.
Tatum does a very good job as the patrolman trying to ‘solve’ his own case. If you saw the film Fighting, you get the idea of his ability to play tough yet endearing characters and as Jonathan he accomplishes just that. Tatum does a good job with the character creating this suspicious yet righteous family man and slowly becoming sucked into the mire of his mistake when he was a youngster. It’s one of the better roles for Tatum and certainly cannot hurt future consideration for more like it.
I am pleasantly surprised by the excellent performance by rising star Jake Cherry as the young Jonathan who finds himself an orphan of a police captain living in an unsafe ghetto house. With all the pressure from the ghetto world and dealing with the death of his parents, it’s a tough life and Cherry shows it.
Another very good performance comes from Tracy Morgan an actor known mostly as very funny comedian. Playing the grown up Vinnie he projects this disturbed man who harbors the pain of that night long ago when he helped Jonathan get rid of the body. Creating this amazing character, Morgan puts on a great show of his acting ability. It’s an important role and one he handles with ease.
The DVD review of The Son of No One contains a few good bonuses including an audio commentary featuring writer/producer/director Dito Montiel and Executive Producer/editor Jake Pushinsky. After you have seen the film turn on this feature for views by the filmmakers that include interesting facts, settings and other fun information involving the movie.
There are also a couple of extended and deleted scenes that I feel should have been left in the movie. The beauty of one of the scenes adds how demented and crazed the man is that Jonathan has to shoot to save his own life.
The following are the all important technical aspects of the DVD/Blu-ray and additional information on the film:
- Cast: Channing Tatum, Al Pacino, Katie Holmes, Tracy Morgan, Juliette Binoche, Ray Liotta, Brian Gilbert and Jake Cherry
- Directed by: Dito Montiel
- MPAA Rating: R for violence, pervasive language and brief disturbing sexual content
- Genre: Crime Drama
- Format: Color, NTSC, Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Language: English
- Subtitles: English, Spanish
- Running Time: 1 hr 33 min
- Available in Blu-ray, Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD
- Street Date: February 21, 2012
- Distributed by: Anchor Bay Films
